
Glass f llUl 
Book --£^4- 



NARRATIVE 



OF A 



<tf ^ 



€> U m W 3B Y 



ACROSS THE 



Island of Newfoundland. 



BY TV. E. CORMACK, ESQ., 



TliE ONLY ONE EVER PERFORMED 



BY A EUROPEAN. 



Printed at the Office of the " Morning Tost" and the " Commercial 
Journal," Duckworth Street, St. Johns, Newfoundland. 

185*5. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Early in the Spring of 1822, being in Newfoundland, — a 
% far-famed Country in which I felt a most lively interest, and 
free from professional engagement, I determined upon ex- 
ploring the Interior of the Island, a Region almost totally un- 
known, and concerning which and its aborigine inhabitants 
the Bed Indians, who were supposed to occupy the whole of 
it, the most uncertain conjectures were entertained. 

«^k W. B. C. 



v 



CONTENTS: 

Sketch I. — Narrative of a Journey across New fcundland, the only 
one ever performed. 

" II. — Narrative of a Journey into the Interior in search of tho 
'Aborigines or Red Indians : history, habits, language, 
&c.,of the Red Indians. 

" III. — Geology and Mineralogy. 

" IV. — Of the Newfoundland Fisheries. 

'« V. — Natural History of the Fisheries of Newfoundland, in 

an economical view. 



PART I. 
Training' and Preparation. 

To accompany mo in the performance, I engaged into my service, 
first, a Mickmack Indian, a noted hunter from the south-west coast ot 
the Island, and next a European, whom I thought fitted. For an un- 
dertaking involving so much uncertainty, hazard, and hardship, it 
was difficult to find men in every respect suited — of volunteers there 
were several. 

In the month of July I trained myself with my Indian, and tried 
his fidelity by making an excursion from St. John's to Placentia, and 
back by way of Trinity and Conception Bays, a circuit of about one 
hundred and fifty miles ; I thereby also ascertained the necessary 
equipment for my intended expedition ; * and discovered that it 
would be impossible to travel in the totally unknown interior, until 
subsistence could be there procured, the supply of which is extremely 
precarious until ihe berries are ripening, and the wild birds and beasts 
have left their birth-places to roam at large and are likely to fall in 
the traveller's way. 

I now resolved to pene'rate at once through the central part of the 
Island ; and the direction in which the natural characteristics of the 
interior vvere likely to be most decidedly exhibited, appeared to lie 
between Trinity Bay on the East Coast and St. George's Bay on the 
West, t 

In the latter end of August T equipped my two men with every 
thing necessary for a three months' campaign, aud considered my 
party, under circumstances, sufficient. 

August 29^. — It is necessary to mention that the Chief Govern- 
ment Authority was opposed to the project — and with which he was 

* At Placentia there lived at this time Blackburne, Esq., an i teresting old 

gentleman, a magistrate and patriarch of the place, a Scot bj birth, who related with 
the greatest delight, the event of the visit of His Royal Highness the Duke of Cia- 
rence (His present Majesty William the IV,) at this place hi the year 17 . . in His 
Majesty's ship .......... 

In remembrance of His Royal Highness's visit, Her late Majesty Queen Caroline, 
sent to Placentia the sum of four hundred pounds to build a chapel — accompanied 
with a model, and church service of plate, in trust, to Mr. Blackburne. The Chapel 
was erected, and is now an extremely chaste building. The model was probably of 
one of the Royal Chapels in England. 

f Captain Buchan's interesting narrative of his journey by the way of the River 
Exploits to the encampments of the Red Indians and of his interview with these peo- 
pleon the Banks of the Red Indian Lake in the interior, during the winter 
when the face of the country was covered with snows and ice, could not throw much 
light upon the natural condition of the country upon the banks of that river and lake. 



made acquainted, — of obtaining a knowledge of the interior of the 
couutry. In consequence of this, I was deprived of the services of 
the European, who was, unfortunately for me, a Stipendiary, by local 
appointment. I could not add to my party either by hiring or ob- 
taining a volunteer. 

PART II. 
Passage from St. John's to Trinity Bay. 

The proper season had arrived in which to set off, and E embarked 
at St. John's for Trinity Bay, previously taking with me my Indian 
only. Uncertainty of result waived over my determination, now 
more settled (by opposition) to perform at all hazards what I had set 
out upon. That no one would be injured by my annihilation was a 
cheering triumph at such a moment. 

Mineralogy. — The sea coast at St. John's, and twelve or fifteen 
miles Northward, as well as thirty miles to the Southward, is formed 
of brown sand stone of a highly silicious quality approaching to 
quartz-rock, alternating with beds of conglomerate and brechea — the 
latter rocks consist of a mechanically formed basis of sandstone — in 
some parts amygdaloidal — with rolled agates, jasper, fragments of 
felspar, clay slate, &3., inibeded. Tne highest hills of this formation 
are entirely and both sides of the entrance of the harbor of St. John's 
are partly formed of these. The Sandstone is traversed in all 
directions by tcrtuous veins of quartz, generally white, and vertical, 
and it includes within it some minor beds of stratified Sandstone, with 
a dip to the South-East. The whole line of coast presents a preci- 
pitous and mural front to the ?ea, varying from a hundred to nearly 
five hundred feet in height. In mauy parts, the veins of quartz are 
of a green colour, indicative of copper, and which metal is here found 
in the form of gray copper ore of a very rich quality. 

There was a copper mine opened about forty years ago, at Shoal 
Bay, fifteen miies south of St. John's, by a late Earl of Galloway — a 
Mr. Vauce Agnew of Galloway, and a Mr. Dunn of Aberdeen, the 
Collector at that time of H. M. Customs at St. John's. The mouths 
of two shafts, one iu the side of the solid rock, the other on the ac- 
clivity fifty or sixty feet above the level of the sea ; as well as other 
remains of the works are still to be seen. It is said to have been 
worked two years ; and the ore, sent to England, yielded 80 percent, 
of co, per. The richer veins took a direction under the level of the 
sea ; and owing to the reported difficulty of keeping the mine dry, 
the undertaking was relinquished after an expenditure of £9,000. 
Cornish miners were brought purposely to the country. There are 



5 
other parts of the coast adjacent, as well as inland, that exhibit the 
same proofs of abundance of copper as this close assemblage of veins — 
of six feet wide at Shoal Bay. 

From the termination of the sandstone northward of St. John's, 
the coast to Cape St. Francis is lormed of grav quartz rock, gray 
wacke, felspar, porphyry, and a series of transition clay slate rocks — 
alternating in strata, the prevalent of the slate formation being green 
stone and flinty slate compact — long splintering, and friable, blue clay 
slate — with patches of red and green, gray quartz is the highest ; and 
having sulphurat of iron disseminated in some spots — oxidation give3 
it a brown colour externally. Chlorite and epidote enter more or 
less into the composition of all the hard rocks, inclusive of the quartz 
The green stone passes into varieties ; some of which are of yellowish 
green colour, translucent at the edges, and seem to be composed of 
talc, approaching more or less to serpentine : these, and all the slate 
rocks, have a perfect double oblique seamed structure : the whole of 
them are in nearly vertical strata with an inclination to the North 
West. The line of junction of the slate formation with the sand stone 
runs N.N. E. and S.S.W., and intersects the harbor of St, John's. 
The rocks are sometimes distinctly separated, sometimes pass gradu- 
ally into each other, and again the slate rocks are extremely tortuous 
with conforming veins of white quartz intermixed. In some low 
spots are beds of horizontally stratified blue and" gray gritly slate, in 
tables or flags. 

Cape St. Francis is formed principally of gray quartz rock and 
green stone. The hoary receding front manifests the thousands of 
years it has defied, and still defies more sternly than ever, the shoeks 
and chaffs of the hundreds of square miles of Ice which are forced 
against it every winter by the constant current and north-west wind 
from the Arctic seas. The hills behind are from three to five hundred 
feet in height. 

On the 30/A August we sailed past Conception Bay, the most po- 
pulous and important district in Newfoundland. It was in this Bay, 
according to history,' that thefirst settlement of the Newfoundland was 
attempted by the English in 1G2 — through Sir GeorgeCalvert(father 
of Lord Baltimore) who had obtained a grant from Charles I. of the 
South-east part of the Island. Sir George pitched upon Port-de- 
Grave, a harbor on the west side of the bay as the spot best suited to 
his purpose, thero being in its immediate vicinity an extensive tract 
of flat prarie land. It is said he was at great expense and pain;: to 
introduce European animals, plants, &c. He was lost at sea in re- 



6 

turning to England, and the scheme was abandoned. Some shrubs 
and small fruits grow here, that have not been met with any where 
else on the Island, and were no doubt originally brought by Sir 
George. Mill-stones were until lately in existence at a spot where 
there had apparently been a mill ; but is supposed the mill was never 
finished. 

On the promontory between Conception and Trinity Bays is the 
Point of Grates, and close to it Baccaloa Island. 

The Point of Grates is the part of North America first discovered 
by Europeans. Sebastian Cabot landed here in 1496, and took pos- 
session of The Newfoundland, which he discovered in the name of his 
employer, Henry VII. of England. He recorded the event by cut" 
ting an inscription, still perfectly legible, on a large block of rock that 
stands on the shore 

Baccaloa Island, formed of a horizontally stratified rock, apparent- 
ly gritly slate, is famous for the numbers of sea flowl that frequent it 
in the breeding season, principally the puffin, called on this coast tha 
Baccaloa bird. The Island has one landing-place only, on its eas 
side, and no resident inhabitants ; but is visited by men in boats and 
small schooners called Eggers, who carry off cargoes of new laid 
eggs. The end of the profession of these men will be the extermina- 
tion of the sea fowl of these parts for the sake of a cruelly-begotten 
temporary subsistence. The destruction by mechanical force of tens 
of thousands of eggs, after the commencement of incubation, precedes 
the gathering of a small cargo of fresh-laid eggs. Penguins, once 
numerons on this coast, may be considered as now extirpated, for none 
have been seen for many years past. 

The wind having been unfavourable, it was not until the 21st 
August, we arrived at Bonaventure, a small fishing harbor on the 
west side ot Trinity Bay. It has a narrow entrance, and is surround- 
ed by steep craggy hills of 400 to 600 feet in height. 

None of the inhabitants here or in the vicinity, as at other parts of 
Newfoundland, couid give any information about the interior, never 
having been farther from the salt water than in pursuit of animals for 
their furs, and for wood-stuff to build vessels and fishing boats. 

From the summits of the hills immediately around the harbor, there 
is a view of the country in all directions inland for 20 to 30 miles, 
encompassing part of Random Island in the south-west. The whole 
is a continued succession of groups of rugged hills, (mountains, ex- 



7 
cept in height), all apparently of a similar description to those on 
which we stood, with some small patches of black fir woods, and a 
few lakes interspersed. It presented a prospect, at least a week's 
hard labor overland, before we could reach what we could only hope 
might be, the verge of the interior. This suggested to me the plan of 
going nearer to the centre of the Island by water, in order to save 
all our strength and resource for the main object of the undertaking 
as it was impossible to know what difficulties and necessities we might 
have to contend with. This was to be effected by taking a boat from 
hence to the west-part of .Random Sound which lay to the west- 
south-westward. The country we now saw was within the reach of 
any one to explore at any short interval of time, and was therefore of 
socondary moment to me. 

The west-side of Trinity Bay is composed of rocks of the transi- 
tion clay slate formation, similar to those on the east. The 
hills frequently of 400 to 600 feet in height, are chiefly of greenstone 
and hornblend slate ; the out-goings of the nearly vertical strata and 
dykes of which, sometimes present a perfectly mural front to the sea; 
blue clay slate alternate*, and has cubical iron pyrites often imbeded, 
some of which are several inches in diameter. In the vallies are beds 
of horizontally stratified gritly slate of the tabular structure, similar 
to that noticed at other parts of the east coast. The tables or flags 
are often several yards in length, formed under a double oblique in- 
tersecting clearage, and admirably adapted for many purposes of 
building. The beds are traversed in all directions by dykes several 
feet in thickness, of a dark colored green stone ; also of the seamed 
structure, the plinrers of which are translucent at the edges. 

The Plants met with at this part of the north-east coast of America, 
although only 48 9 20' N. lat. or nearly in the parallel of Brest, and 
the highest hills not exceeding GOO feet, seem to be similar to 
those of Norway and Lapland in the north-west of Europe, under 
the Arctic Circle. On the sea beaches the common plants are the 
sea plantani, Plantago, Maritima, the sea pea, Pisum Maritimum, 
Ca?npa?luearolun,di folia, Elo-doea campanulat, Impaticus Viflora, 
Syrcopus Virginicus, Mentha Cannadensis, fyc. The trees immedi- 
ately at the coast, are nearly all of the puiu tribe, principally firs. la 
the more sheltered spots a few birches are met with. On the accli- 
vities are the rasberry Rubies, Idacus, bramble, iv 4 Jiuticocus ; Vi- 
vurnum, Pyrifollum, bearing clusters of a wholesome blue berry — 
and V. Cassinoides ; Cornus Circinata, bearing clusters of a white- 



8 

berry considered uuwbolsome, C. Sirica or red rod ; strawberry ; 
Epilobium-Augustifolium, Etetragonum, E OHgantkum, E Latti~ 
folium ; Solidgo, Cannadensis, Sflexzcaulis, S. Vininea ; Eupator- 
cum purpureum ; Prenanthis Serpentaiea everlasting Anteunaira, 
Margarilacfa ; Polentilla uersuta ; Lysunachia Shicta ; Sewtiila 
ria Galerialata ; Polygonum sagittatum ; Micropetalum Grami- 
neum or Stella? 'ia Graminea ; Cerastium viscosum ; Thlaspi Brus- 
a pastoris; Galium palustre ; white spinage ; Cheriopodium alburn; 
Salcopus terhalut ; Veronica Serpillifolia, Leontidou Taraxcaum ; 
Apargia Autumnalis SeucuvcBlongatus ; Souchis Oleraceus : Cuicus 
Arve?isis, fyc. Several varieties of whortleberry, Vaccinium tenellum 
being the most common, Partridgeberry, V. Vuxifolium ; Juniper 
Junipaus communis. On the summits of the bills, Empitrum nig- 
rum ; on the black watery berry of which curlew and other birds feed ; 
Vaceinum ulijinosum ; Arbutus TJua Ursa, A Unedo ; Potentilla 
tridentata, fyc. 

The inhabitants of Bonaventare, about a dozen families, gain their 
livelihood by the cod fishery. They cultivate only a few potatoes, 
and some other vegetables, which were of excellent quality, amongst 
the scanty patehes of soil around their doors ; obtaining all their 
other provisions, clothing, and outfit for the fiishery, from merchants 
in other parts of Trinity Bay, or elsewhere on the coast, not too far 
distant, giving in return the produce of the fishery, viz., cod fish and 
cod oil. They collectively catch about 1,500 quintals, or 300 tons 
ot cod fish, valued at 12s. per quintal, £900 ; and manufacture from 
the livers of the cod fish about twenty-one tons of oil, valued at £16 
per tun, £335 ; which is the annual amount of their trade. The 
merchants import articles for the use of the fisheries from Europe and 
elsewhere to supply such people as these, who are actually engaged 
in the operations of the fishery. The whole population of Newfound- 
land may be viewed as similarly circumstanced with these of Bona- 
venture, together with their relations. 

September 3rd. — Having engaged a boat to carry us to the most 
inland part of liandom Sound, we left Bonaventure on the passage to 
the north-east entrance, about six miles south-west of Bonaventure, we 
witnessed the phenomenon of the very great transparency of the sea 
which it assumes here during the time of change of wind from West 
to East. The fishes and their haunts amongst the rocks and luxu- 
riant weeds at the bottom were seen to a fearful depth. Every turn 
of the sound presents a different aspect of rugged, and in some parts, 
grand scenery. Both sides are formed of steep and perpendicular 



9 

hills of greenstona, and of rocks of the transition clay slate formation, 
of 500 to 600 feet in height, the nakedness of which displays, a3 at 
the outer parts of Trinity Bay, the skeleton of the earth. The strata 
are of various thickness, and Ho in different directions. Patches of 
fir trees — Finus balsamea principally grow where the steepness does 
not prevent debris from lodging. The appearance of both side3 of the 
sound or gut correspond so remarkably, that it might be inferred 
Random Island is a break off from the main island. There are no in- 
habitants here, but fishermen of the neighbouring parts come hither 
in spring for the rinds of the fir tree Finus balsamea, which they peel 
off— spread and dry in the sun ; and afterwards use chiefly to cover 
the piles of cod fish to protect it from the wet weather and dew — in 
the process of curing. The North Arm of the Sound, that which we 
came through, is about thirty miles in length, and varies from one- 
eighth to one-third of a mile in width. Within two or three miles 
of its west extremity, it expands and becomes shallow ; and here the 
scene of gloom and barrenness is suddenly contrasted with a pretty 
email sheet of water, surrounded by a flat thickly wooded country, 
as inviting as the past was forbidding. 

Eandom Bar at the west extremity of- the sound caused by the 
meeting of the tide here, in the form of two considerable bores from 
the north and south arms, is dry except for an hour or two before and 
after high water, and there is then about two feet only of water upon 
it. It is in 48 c 13' north latitude, and 53* 40* west longitude, (by 
Steele's chart, published in 1817). 

The land adjacent to the bar is low, and the soil is good. West- 
ward towards the interior it rises from the water's edge very gradu- 
ally, and is entirely covered with wood. In consequence of black 
birch, Betula lenta, and white pine, Finus sylvestris, having been 
produced in this part in considerable quantities fit for ship-building, 
it appears to have been formerly, much for those resorted to, and 
vessels have been built there. A spot of ground near the bar had 
been appropriated to the interment of those who had died while em- 
ployed in the vicinity. Most kinds of the pine tribe are met with 
here, viz., Pinus nigra, P. alba P. rubra, P, balsamea, P. micro- 
ca r pa, or Larix,and P. Sylvestris, already noticed; also white birch, 
Betula populifolia, of the rinds of which the Indians cover their 
canoes; poplars, Fopulus trepida and F. grandidentata ; maples, 
Acer, rubrum, and A. Striatum or mouse wood of Canada ; moun- 
tain ash, Sorbus Americana : choke cherry, Prunus Borca!**, and 



10 

small wild cherry, P. Pe'risylvanica ; hazel, Corylus Americana / 
slder Sambucus ; and some other shrubs. 

September 6tk. — Our boat having lain dry on the bar nearly all 
night, we 3lept in her in preference to encamping in woods. Wild 
geese and other birds were flying to and fro over us during the whole 
time, most industriously and fearlessly in search of food. This is a 
favorite resort of ducks, herons, and other acquatic fowls. 

Sunrise announced that advice was to be taken for a time to th* 
routine habits of civilisation. My travelling equipments being land- 
ed, the boat with the party which brought my Indian and left us on 
her return to Bonaventure.On her disappearance into the gloomy gut, 
and when the reports of our farewell guns were no longer echoed to 
each other along its windings, an abyss of difficulties instantly sprang 
up in the imagination between the point where we stood and the ci- 
vilized world we had just quitted, as well as between us and the cen- 
tre of the Terra Incognita. That we might be eaten up by packs of 
wolves, was more than probable to the farewell forebodings of the in- 
habitants we had last seen, if we should escape the Red Indians. My 
Indian was also at this juncture sensibly affected ; contrasting no 
doubt the comforts and plenty he had of late experienced, to the toils 
and deprivations that were before us, the nature of which he could 
foresee. But we did not come here to entertain emotions from such 
a circumstance. 

It would have been impossible with the object I had in view ta 
reach this spot by land from St. John's,as the coast we passed is with- 
out roads or paths of any kind, and an entire assemblage of rocky 
mountains, forests and lakes, intersected by deep bays. 

PABT III. 

Depart from the Sea Coast. 

Beinc now removed with my Indian from all human communica- 
tion and interference, we put our knapsacks and equipments in order 
and left this inland part of the sea shore in a north direction, without 
regard to any track, through marshes and woods towards some rising 
land, in order to obtain a view of the country.* The centre of tho 
island bore nearly west from us. . . . • . . 

* Equipment. — My dress chiefly consisted of a grey moleskin shooting jacket, small 
clothes of worsted cord, three entire inside woollen body dresses, (no linen or cotton 
whatever), worsted stockings and socks, Canadian long mockasin boots ; the Indian 
wore leggings or gaiters made of swanskin blanketing, together with mockasins in- 
stead of boots. I was armed with a double-barrelled fowling piece and a brace of 
bayoncted-pistols, two pounds and a-half of gunpowder, and ten pounds of bullet 
and shot. The Indian had a single-barrelled fowling piece and a pistol, and the like 
. and *hoi. Our stock consisted of a hatchet, two small tin kettles, 



11 

After several hours of hard labor, owing chiefly to the great weight 
of our knapsacks, we made only about two miles progress. From 
the tops of the highest trees the country in all directions west- 
ward for at least twenty miles appeared to be covered with one dense 
unbroken pine forest, with here and there a bold granitic pap pro- 
jecting above the dark green surface. We had expected to see some 
open country nearer. 

At 6unset we halted, and bivouacked beneath the forest. As the 
weather was fine, and no prospect of rain, our camp consisted merely 
of a fire and a bundle of spruce boughs to lie on. My Indian, 
Joseph Sylvester by name, at mid-night rolled himself up in his 
blanket, and evidently slept perfectly at home. 

September 6th, — No clear ground appearing in our course, we 
struck directly westward through the forest. Wind-fallen trees, un- 
derwood, and brooks lay in our way ; which together with the suffo- 
cating heat in the woods, and moschetos hindered us from advancing 
more than five miles to-day, in a W.N.W. direction. 

September 7th, 8th, 9th were occupied in travelling westward 
through the forest, at the rate of seven or eight miles a day. 

In our progress we ascended several of the insulated paps to view 
the country, stunted firs and a thick rug of moss crept almost to their 
summits. The prospect of the ocean of indicating forest around, — of 
the high land of Trinity and Bonavista Bays, and of the Atlantic 
Ocean in the distance northward, were splendid. There was an evi- 
dent use in the land — westward from Random Bar. 

These paps consist of pink and grey granite, very coarse grained. 
They lie northward and southward of each other, and seem to belong 
to a primitive range that exhibits itself at distant spots above the tran- 
sition clay slate formation. They stand like imperishable monuments 
of the original construction of the earth, overlooking the less perfect- 
ly chrystalized rocks around them mouldering into soil. The granite 
often appears in the form of round-backed hills. On the crumbled 
surface of some of these that are not yet covered with vegetation, 
fragments of mica slate are sometimes mixed. On the surface of tha 
vegetation with which others are covered, huge masses or boulders of 
very hard and sienitic granite often apparently lie, — but on exami- 

for cooking ; about twenty pounds of biscuit, eight pounds oi pork, some portable 
soup, tea and sugar, pepper, salt, M'c. ; a blanket each, and one for the camp roof, a 
tellescope, a pocket compass each : I took a small fishing rod and t ickle, and various 
minor articles for our casual necessities and tor minera logical aud, other purposes of 
observation and notes. On another journey of the kind, 1 should v< bis 

equipment, 



12 

nation are found to rest on their parent nucles underneath, as it were 
deserted by the more perishable portions of the original bed. Green- 
stone of a very perfect double oblique seamed structure, which owes 
its green colour to an iotimate association in various proportions with 
chlorite, alternates in the clay slate formation and appears next in 
elevation to the granite, it presents plane weathered surfaces resem- 
bling yellow-grey sandstone owing to the decomposition of its chief 
component part — felspar. The clay slate-rocks are distinctly seen 
at all the brooks and lakes within eighteen or twenty miles of ihe 
sea. Beyond that, the primitive rocks prevail. 

The Forest, it may bo useless to repeat, is composed almost en- 
tirely of trees of the pine tribe, firs, in general fit for small gpars, the 
black and red spruce, piniss nigr*, and prubra predominating. In 
some favored spots a few birches, larch, and pinus Sylvestris, attain a 
considerable size. Birch is the only decidrious timber tree met with in 
Newfoundland ; there being here neither beech, maple (except the 
two diminutive species already noticed), oak, nor ash, all common on 
the neighbouring islands and continent. 

Marshes and lakes lie hidden in the forest. Every marsh is ac- 
companied almost invariably by a lake, and overy hill also by a lake 
— of proportional extent at its foot, and the three are frequently 
found together. We travelled on the rising ground in order to avoid 
the lakes. 

On the skirts of the forest, and of the marches are found the fol- 
lowing trees and shrubs : — Poplar, Popula trepida, Alder, Alnus 
crispa; Birches, Betula nana, and B. glandulosa ; Willow, salix 

; Indian Pear, Pyrus Botriatrium ; and P. Arbulitolium ; wild 

gooseberry, Rides glacile j and wild currant, R. prostratum ; Rasp- 
berries, Rubus Occidentals ; and R. Saxatilis, Pontentilla fruticosa, 
yellow-flowring honey suckle, Lonicera Alpigena ? ; Rhodora Cana- 
densis ; Andromeda Calycirlata, and A. Augustifolia ; Kalmia glau- 
ca ; Indian or Labrador tea Ledum latifolium myrica, gale Roses, 
Rosa nitada, and R. franinifoii*,, &c. 

The marshes consist of what is termed marsh peat, formed chiefly 
of the mosses, Sphagnum capil lifolium, andVulgare S. or S. Glacile 
Mich ? ; and are for the most part covered with grasses, rushes, &c, 
of whioh the following predominate : Eleochans Sangunrolen ta, the 
roots of which are thickly matted in buaohes ; cotton grasses, Eriop- 
horum Virginicum, E. Augustifolium, and E. lespitosuin ; Oarex pan- 
siflora, C. tenella, C. stipata of Mecklenbcrg, C. folliqulata, and C. 



13 
bullata ; sweet scented grass, Authaxanthum odratura, &c. Some 
portions of the marshes retain more water than others, and here the 
prevalent plants are a variety of rushes ; J uncus Acutifloris and Ef- 
fusus, and Buforius, and Campestris, Lugulalampestris ; Pogoria 
Ophioglosoides, red and a yellow kind ; Habernaria dilatata, and H. 
Clavellata ; lark's spur, Diosera rotundifolia ; Indian cap, Sanacenia 
prorpuria ; Cranberry, Oxycocus macro-carpus ; and marsh berry, 

0. ; bog apple, Rubus Chamaemorus ? ; ladies' slipper, Cypri- 

pedum humile ; gold thread, Coptis trifolia ; Rynohospera alba ; 
Stachys Aspera ; Windsoria pooe fornis ; Arundo Canadensis ; — tho 
two last grasses being fi>e or six feet in height ; Mecklenbergia 
erecta Iris Virginica ; white violet, Viola Selkirkia, and blue V. Pal. 
ustris ; Lycopus Virginicus, &c. Other spots of the marshes are 
raised above the common surface owing generally to the projection of 
the underlying rocks, and consequently retain less moisture. Here 
the Kalmia Augustifolia sometimes occupies entire acres, and in tho 
flowering season displays (as may be seen in the vicinity of St. John's) 
a very brilliant appearance — the Rhododendron punctatum Puish 
which puts forth its delicate lilac blossoms before its leaves, is also 
oommon. The pools and lakes shone brilliantly with white and yel- 
low water-lillies — Nymphea ordoratea and N. Advena chelene ob- 
liqua, &c. At and in the running waters are pirea saliaiolia, Colum- 
bine, Thalictrum Cornuti and T. Pubescens ; Lobilia Dortmaraia : 
Eqrusetum Syloaticum ; Asta memoralis and A. Radula ; Potamo- 
geton natans ; Hipparis vulgaris ; Fontinalis squanosa ; Ranunculus 
tiliformis, and R. Secleratus ; Atricularia Vulgaris, Spergula arven- 
sis ; Buckbean, Merganthes trifoliata, Onoclea sensibilis ; Dock Ru- 
mex, several species ; water-aven or chocolate root, Geum Rivale, &c. 
Under the shade of the forest, the soil is light, dry, very rocky, of 
a yellow brown colour, and covered every where with a beautiful thick 
carpet of green moss, — formed principally of Poly tri chum commune. 
As there are few or no decidrous or leaf-shedding trees, decay of fo- 
liage adds little or nothing to ameliorate or enrich the soil, and the 
velvet-like covering remains unsullied by fallen leaves. The surface 
is bespangled, and the air perfumed by the Merchantia polipicorpha ; 
Trientalis Americana, Smilacina Boreal is, S. Canadensis, Vifolia, and 
S. trifolia; Linnea Borealis ; Vaccinium hispodolum, the white berry 
of which is convertible into a very delicious preserve ; Pryola sec- 
cunda ; Cornus Canadensis bearing a cluster of wholesome red ber- 
ries sometimes called pigeon berries ; Malaxis unifolia, Habernaria 
Clavellatia ; Biscuta bulifera-— or arnuts ; wild celery, Lygusticum 



14 

Scoticum ; Streptopus Distortui bearing pendulu* red berries under 
its large palmatted leavet. 

The plants enumerated are not limited to the situation described, 
but frequently range on several of them. Ther^ being neither browse, 
grass, nor berries in any quantity in the pine forest, even traces of 
any kind of game are seldome seen. Hence the necessity of carrying 
a stock of provisions to last while travelling through such woods. 
Yet a heavy load prevents expedition and observing muoh of the na- 
tural condition of the country. The brooks are only visited by otters : 
the pools and small lakes by beavers and mask rats. The martin, 
Mustela Martis, is sometimes seen on the trees. Of the feathered 
tribe, the Jay, Corvus Canadensis, and sometimes the titmouse fol- 
lowed us, chattering and fluttering, shewing th at their retreats were 
never before invaded by man. A woodpecker, of which there are 
two or three kinds, is now and then heard tapping, and sometimes the 
distant croak of a raven catches the ear. These are the only inter- 
ruptions to the dead silence that always and every where reigns du- 
ring the day in such forests. Man alone forces his way fearlessly 
onward ; scarce a sound being heard except he is directly or indi- 
rectly the cause. The loud notes of the Loon Co'jmb » Areticus 
and Colymbus glacialis, discovered to us at night, as we lay in our 
camp in what direction the lakes lay that were near, -end we thus 
avoided them, if in our course next day. The Loon, like the other 
aquatic birds of passage, geese and ducks, is most alert in the ni ght 
time, when the permanent inhabitants of the country are at rest. Al- 
most every lake is oocupied during the breading season by a pair of 
these nooturnal clamorers. The wild, varied and significant responses 
to each other, as they swim about in search of food sometimes like 
the bleating of sheep, and again like the lowing of cattle, keep the 
imagination awake all night. 

It is impossible in an unknown country, and one into which for cen- 
turies admission was in a manner denied, to reconcile oneself with 
certainty as to who are fellow occupants around — Aborigines might 
have wandered from the more central parts of the island to our neigh- 
bourhood and egpy our fire from a distance and steal upon us un* 
awares. No civilized being had been here before, nor was any now 
expected. Apprehensions and thoughts of no ordinary kind occupy 
the mind unaccustomed to the untrodden boundless wilderness. Sleep 
if not looked for. 



15 

We had as jet shot only a few braoes of grouse,Tetraa Albus, while 
crossing the open rocky spots in the woods, and our stock of provi- 
sions was nearly consumed. 

The heat it? the woods was very oppressive, and there being no cir- 
culation of air under the trees, myriads of moschetos, with black and 
sand flies annoyed us. 

We lodged at nights under tne thickest of the woods, encamping or 
biouvacking in the Indian manner. As the weather was fine, this 
was agreeable and cheerful. Familiarity with this transient system 
of sheltering, adopted from expediency, is soon acquired. It may be 
shortly described : — Continuing our journey about an hour before sun 
set, a dry firm spot of ground on which to make a fire and to sleep 
under the thickest of the trees for shelter is pitched upon as near as 
possible to Water, and an easy supply of wood for fuel. Care'should 
be taken that the spot selected be not hollow underneath the moss 
that covers the ground for in that caso the fire, which always con- 
sumes its own bed, may sink before the night so far below the sur- 
face as to be useless and expose a cavity amongst blocks of granite 
into which the firebrands have fallen, and sufficient to swallow up any 
slumberer that might chance to slide into it. Arms and knapsacks 
are then piled ; as much wood is cut and brought to the spot as will 
•erve to keep up a good fire all night. Tinder is made by pulveriz- 
ing a small piece of dry rotten wood and a little gunpowder -together 
between the hands, and ignited by a spark from the lock of a pistol 
or fowling piece, or by any other mean^; the smoke of the fire afffords 
instant relief from the constant devouring enemy the flies. Boughs 
are broken from the surrounding spruce trees, two or three armsfull 
each person, to serve to lie and slesp on ; they are laid on the ground 
at the windward side tf the fire to be free from the smoke, tier upon 
tier as feathers upon the back of a bird, the thick or broken ends plac- 
ed in lines towards the fire, and form a kind of mat three or four 
inches in thickness. A few light poles are then cut and stuck in the 
ground along the windward side of the bed inclined in an angle of 
about 45 8 over it, towards the fire, on which to stretch a blanket to 
Berve as a roof-screen in the event of rain during the night ; tho 
upper ends of the poles rest on a horizontal ridge pole which is sus- 
pended at each end by a forked stick, or a post. The camp being 
now ready for the general accommodation, wet clothes are 
taken off, and supper is prepared accordingly. The lab*- " explor- 



16 

ing and hunting is such, that the clothes are always wet from perspi- 
ration. A forked stick stuck in the ground is used tor roasting by : 
and some pieces of rind of a birch or spruce tree serves for tablecloth, 
platter, and torches. To make a camp after a day's hard fatigue re- 
quires about an hour, and the whole should be done before it is dark. 
Then and not until then is it proper to sit down to rest. After sup- 
per each, when disposed rolls himself up in his blanket and reposes 
on his fragrant bed of boaghs, placing the soles of the feet near the 
fire. This precaution the Indian strictly adheres to, as a preservation 
of health, the feet being wet all day. 

September \0th, — From the first we had now and then crossed 
over marshes and open rocky spots in the forest. As we advanced 
these latter became more frequent. The change of sylvan scenery 
as we passed frem one to another was enlivening and interesting, and 
afforded the luxury of a breeze that freed us from the host of 
blood-thirsty flies. 

Early in the day the ground descending, we came unexpectedly to 
a rivulet about seventy yards wide, running rapidly over a rocky 
bed to the north-east, which we forded. The bed and shelving banks 
are formed of granite miea and transition clay slate rocks. Some of 
the latter inclined to serpentine, greenstone, red sandstone of the 
coal formation, sand, and beds of fine yellow clay. The water was in 
some parts brought into a very narrow compass by the rocks project- 
ing from the sides. Large birch and spruce trees overhung the banks, 
and rendered the scenery pretty. It abounded with fine trouts, some 
of which we caught. The sand was everywhere marked with tracks 
of deer. The roaring of a cataract of some magnitude was bjfeard in 
the north-east. From the position and course of this stream, we in- 
ferred that it was a branch of the river which runs into Clode 'Sound 
into Bonavista Bay ; and my Indian, supposed from his recollections 
of the reports of the Indians, concerning Clode Sound River, that 
canoes could be brought up from the. sea coast to near where we 
were. 

Leaving this rivulet, the land has a considerable rise for several 
miles. The features ot the country then assume an air of expanse and 
importance different from heretofore.Tbe trees become larger and stand 
apart; and we entered upon spacious tracks of rocky ground entirely 
clear of wood. Every thing indicatod our approach to the verge of a 
country different from the past. 



17 

We soon found that wo wore on a great granitic ridge, covered not 
astheloiver grounds are with crowded pines, and green moss, but 
with scattered trees, and a variety of beautiful lichiens or reindeer 
mess, partridge berries, Vacceniuon Bunfolicum, and whortleberries 
loaded the ground. The Xytosteum Villosum, a pretty erect shrub, 
was in full fruit by the sides of the rocks : grouse, Tetrao albus, the 
indigenous game bird of the country, rose in coveys in every direction, 
and snipes from every marsh. The birds of passage, ducks and geese, 
Were flying over us to and fro from their breeding places in the inte- 
rior, and the sea coast : tracks of deer, of wolves fearfully large, of 
bears, foxes, and martins, were seen everywhere. 

On looking back towards the sea coast, the scene was magnificent. 
We discovered that under the cover of the forest, we had been uniform- 
ly ascending ever since we left the salt water at Kandom Bar, and 
then soon arrived at the summit of what we saw to be a great moun- 
tain rido;e that seems to serve as a barrier between the sea and the 
interior. The black dense lorest through which we had pilgrimaged 
presented a novel picture, appearing spotted with bright yellow 
marshes and a few glossy lakes in its bosom, some of which we had 
passed close by without seeing them. 

PART IV. 

First view of the Interior— our advance into it— its description- 
reach the central part of the Island. 

In the westward, to our inexpressible delight, the interior broke ia 
sublimity before us. What a contrast did this present to the con- 
jectures entertained of Newfoundland ! The hitherto mysterious in- 
terior lay unfolded below us, a boundless scene, erfterald surface ; a 
vast basin. The eye strides again and again over a succession of 
northerly and southerly ranges of green plains — marbled with woods 
and lakes of every form and extent, a picture of all the luxurious 
scenes of national cultivation, receding into invisiblencss. The ima- 
gination hovers in the distance, and clings involuntarily to the undu- 
lating horizon of vapour, far into the west until it is lost. A new 
world seemed to Invite us onward, or rather we claimed the dominion 
and were impatient to proceed to take possession. Fancy carried us 
swiftly across the Island. Obstacles of every kind were dispelled 
and despised. Primitiveness, Omnipotence, and tranquility, were 
stamped upou everything so forcibly, that the mind ia huddled back 
thousands of years, and the man left denuded of the mental fabric 
which a knowledge of oges of human experience and of time may 



have reared within him. Could a dwelling be secured amid the 
heavenly emotions escited by the presence of such objectr. 

It was manifested on every hand that this was the season of the 
year when the earth here offers her stores of productions ; land ber- 
ries were ripening, game birds were Hedging, and beasts were emerg- 
ing to prey upon each other. Everything animate or inanimate 
seemed to be our own. We consumed unsparingly our remaining 
provisions, confident that henceforward with ..our personal powers, 
which fell increased by the nature of the objects that presented them- 
selves, aided by what now seemed by contrast,— the admirable power 
of our fire-arms, the destruction of one creature would afford us nou- 
rishment and vigour for the destruction of others. There was no will 
but ours; Thoughts of the aborigines did not alter our determina- 
tion to meet them, as well as everything living — that might present 
itself in a country yet untrodden, and before unseen by civilized man. 
I now adopted as well for self-preservation as for the sake of accom- 
plishing the object of my excursion, the self-dependent mode of life 
ol the Indian both in spirit and action. 

But to look around before we advance. The great exterior fea- 
tures of the eastern portion of the main body of the Island are seen 
from these commanding heights. Overland communication between 
the bays of the East, North, and South coasts it appears might be ea- 
sily established. The chief obstacles to overcome, as far as regards 
the mere way, seem to lie in crossing the mountain belt — of twenty 
or forty miles wide on which we stood, in order to reach the open 
low interior. The nucleus of this belt is exhibited in the form of a 
semi- circular chain of insulated paps, and round-backed graniti c 
hills, generally lying north-east and sou'h-wesb of each other in the 
rear of Bonavista, Trinity, Placentia, and Fortune Bays. To the 
southward of us in the direction of Piper's Hole, in Placentia Bay, 
one of these conical hills, very conspicuous, I named Mount Clarence, 
in honor of His Royal Highness, who, when in the navy, had been in 
<ha Bay Our view extended more than forty miles in all di- 
rections. No high land, it has been already noticed, bounded the 
low interior in tre west. 

September l\lh — We descended in to the bosom of the interior. 

The plains which shone SO brilliantly arc steppes or savannas, 

Df fine black compact peat m >u!d, formed by the growth 

. principally the Sph'agnum Oapillifilium, and 

I uniformly with their wi . the Euphrasia Officinalis, 



M**ag in soma places intermixed. They are in tho form of extensive 
gently undulating beds stretching northward and southward, with 
running waters and lakes, skirted with woods, lying between them. 
Their yellow green surfaces are lometimes uninterrupted by either 
ree, shrub, rocks, or any inequality, for more than ten miles. They 
re chequered every where upon the surface by deep beaten deer 
paths', and are in reality magnificent natural deer parks, adorned by 
woods and water. The trees here sometimes grow to a considerable 
size, particularly the larch; birch is also common. The deer herd 
upon them to graze. It is impossible to describe the grandeur and 
richness of the scenery; and which will probably remain long undo- 
f aced by the hand of man. In vain were associations; in vain did 
the eye wander lor the cattle, the cottage, and the flocks. 

Our progress over the savanna country was attended with great 
labor, and consequently slow, being only at the rate of five to seven 
miles a day to the westward, while the distance walked was equiva- 
lent to three or four times as much. Always inclining our course to 
the westward, we traversed in every direction, partly from choice, in 
order to view and examine the country, and partly from the neces- 
sity to get round the extremities of lakes and woods, and to look for 
game for subsistence. 

It was impossible to ascertain the depths of these savannas, but 
judging from the great expanse of the undulations, and the total ab- 
sence of inequalities on the surfaces, it must often be many fathoms. 
Portion of isome of the marshes, from some cause under the sur- 
face, are broken up and sunk below the level, forming gullies and 
pools. The peat is there exposed sometimes to a depth of ten feet 
and more without any rock or soil underneath; and the process of its 
formation is distinctly exhibited from the dying and dead roots of the 
green surface moss descending linearly into gradual decay, until per- I 
fected into a fine black compact peat, in which the original organic I 
structure of the parent is lost. The savanna peat immediately un- 
der the roots of the grass on the surface is very similar to the per- 
fected peat of the marshes. The savannas are continually moist or 
wet on the surface, even in the middle of summer, but hard under- 
neath. Roots of trees, apparently where they grew, are to be ' 
by digging the surfaces of seme of them, and probably of all. ] 
what was seen of their edges at the water courses they lie or 
solid rock, without the intervention of auy soil. The rocks cxhi 
i7ere transition clay slate, mica slate, and granitic. 



£0 — T 

One of the most striking features of the interior is the innumerable 
deer paths on the Savannas. They are narrow and take directions as 
various as the winds, giving the whole country a checquered appear- 
ance. Of the millions of acres here, there is no one spot exceeding 
a few superficial yards that is not bounded on all sides by deer paths. 
We however met some small herd only of these animals, the savannas 
and plains being in the summer season deserted by them for the 
mountains in the west part of the island. The Newfoundland deer, 
and there is only one species in the island, is a variety of the rein- 
deer, Cervus Tarundus, or Garriboo ; and, like that animal in every 
other country, it is migratory, always changing place with the sea- 
sons for sake of its favorite kinds of food. Although they migrate in 
herds, they travel in files, with their heads in some degree to wind- 
ward, in order that they may, by the scent, discover their enemies 
the wolves ; their senses of smelling and hearing are very acute, but 
they do not trust much to their sight. This is the reason of their 
paths taking so many directions in straight lines ; they become in con- 
sequence an easy prey to the hunter by stratagem. The paths tend 
from park to park through the intervening woods, in lines as estab- 
lished and deep beaten as cattle paths on an old grazing farm. 

The beaver, Castor Fiber, owing to the presence of the birch tree, 
Betula nigra, all the brooks and lakes in the basin of the interior have 
been formerly and many are still inhabited by beavers, but these 
have in many places been destroyed by Indians. The bark of the 
birds tree together with that ot a dwarf willow which abounds at the 
edges of tne waters, is the favorite food of the beavers. They also 
subsist on the large roots of the white waterlilly, Nymphea odorata ; 
called by the Indians beaver-root, which they detach in pieces from 
amongst the mud at the bottom of the lakes and pools. They some- 
times, although seldom here, eat of the bark of the spruce fir, Pin us 
Balsamea. They obtain the bark from the trees by knawing the 
trunks through about two feet above the ground, and thus causing 
them to fall. The side on which a tree is intended to fall is cut two- 
thirds through, the other side one third, sometimes a3 happens with 
the most experienced wood-cutter, a tree slips off the stem and will 
not fall to the ground owing to the support from the branches of ad- 
jacent trees. The work has then to be performed over again ab ove 
the first cutting, as we saw had happened with the beavers in several 
instances— some of the tree3 thus brought to the ground were fifteen 
-ches and upwards in diameter. The tree being felled, every branch 



21 

by additional gnawing, becomes accessible, and by sub-dividing, 
portable. 

The sagacity displayed by the beavers in constricting their houses 
has been often described ; but it is in their draining operations that 
their reason is evinced. They frequently dam up such brooks as 
have birch trees growing plentifully along their margin and build 
their houses — with one always immersed or dipt into the margin of 
the lake thus formed. They also by damming raise the level of na- 
tural lakes— to accommodate the surface to some eligible site near 
the margin, or on an island or rock, chosen to build their house upon. 
On first witnessing the extent of work performed of some of these 
dams, it is difficult to persuade oneself that it has not been done b 
man. The materials used are trunks of trees gnawed down by th 
beavers themselves for the purpose, mud, sticks, stones, and swards. 
Their houses arc formed of the some materials, and resemble in their 
exterior a hemispherical mud-hovel — of from eight to ten feet in 
length — such as human beings — in some parts, dwell in, but without 
a visible door, or aperture for the escape of smoke. Tiiey have dif- 
ferent abodes for summer and winter, occupying the former for four 
or five months, and the latter seven or eight months of the year ac- 
cording to the temperature of the seasons. Those are sometimes sev- 
eral miles apart. A winter house differs from a summer one — prin- 
cipally in being larger and more substantial. The chief entrance of 
both is under the surface of the water in the lake ; that of the sum- 
mer house about two feet, that of the winter about three feet. A 
house has often another entrance at the back or land side if the ground 
will permit, also under water for egrsss and ingress to and from the 
adjoining woods. If the entrance of the winter house was placed 
nearer to the surface than is stated it might be frozen up from the 
outside during the severity of the winter, and a stop put to the egress 
and ingress into and out of the lake. In summer the beavers can 
travel up and down the brooks, swim round the lake, go into the 
woods in search of food, and return to their houses to rest.. In winter 
the whole surface of the country, land and wafer being sealed unde 
snow and ice, instinct directs these animals to concentrate at on 
accessible spot underneath a stock of provisions to subsist on during 
that season. It is easier for them to build a house close to where a 
winter stock of food is to be procured, than to carry this to the houso 
occupied in summer, around which much of the food has probabl; 
been consumed. A family which consists generally of two old, an 



22 

two, three or four young will commence early in September to build 
a house for the winter, and soon afterwards to collect a stock ot pro- 
visions. They fell tree after tree in the manner described as near as 
possible to the winter house, guaw the branches into portable piece?? 
carry them on© by one to the margin of the lake, swim with tl 
near the front entrance, then dive and deposit them to the bottom ; 
if the piece is inclined to float they stick one end in the mud and even 
lay stones upon it. In October or November, by the time the 1 kes 
are frozen over, and snow covers the ground, the house is completed 
and the winter's stock of birch wood with the bark on placed : 
the entrance. Now in retirement they dive through, to the bottom of 
the lake and bring up at pleasure to within the house a piece to eat of 
the bark, when stript they carry it out and bring in another. 
is the winter spent ; at the termination of it, when the ice disappears, 
the hundred pieces of wood, that seven months before were covered 
with bark, are now to be seen deposited on the dam spot entirely peel- 
ed. The senses of hearing and smell, especially of the former, of the 
beaver, are exquisitely tine. It requires the utmost pr?c. 
and vigilance of the hunter to steal within shot of them without 
detection, and this must be always done from the leeward. Their 
sense of sight is weak, and they seldom appear abroad daring the day. 
On account of the value of its skin the beavers are the chief c 
of chase with the Indians. These people ha viug made themselves 
acquainted with the different spots throughout the Island where these 
valuable animals abound most, and hunt over these alternately and 
periodically, allowing them three years to regenerate. We shot many 
of them for provision. 

Geese, Anas Caunadensis and Ducks (the black duck), Anas Bos- 
chas, are met with in great numbers in the interior, the ducks in par- 
ticular in the central parts of the island. There remote from man 
they breed undisturbed on the edges and islands of the ponds and 
lakes. The geese moult soon after their arrival in the spring; and, 
owing to the ioss of their pinion feathers, are unable to fly during the 
summer or breeding seasons : but they can then run faster than a man 
on the marshes, and if surprised at, or near a pond, they will plunge 
in and remain under water with their bills only above the 
permit of breathing, antil the enemy has passed by. They feed on 
berries — preferring that of the Kmpetum Nigrum, and the seeds of 
. Both the old and you:-. Jed to fly in September • 

t h e 



23 
of tiic grasses on the marshes and savannas to fail to the earth, 
cr otherwise when the snow falls and covers the ground, they collect 
in flocks — and fly off to the southern shores of ' the island and from 
thence to the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; they remain there until Decem- 
ber, and then assembled, take flight in immense flocks to th? southern 
parts of America, to return in the spri ag. The ducks do not quit tho 
interior for the sea coast so early as the geese, that is, not until the 
pools and ponds in which they obtaiu their food are frozen over, and 
they are the last of the birds of passage seen here ! Leong of two species, 
breed in the interior, almost every lake, as observed nearer to the 

being occupied daring the summer season by a pair of them. 

he common sea-gull, early in she spring, and fly off to the 
sea in July and August, Cu lews breed on the barren hills ; Snipes, 
(jack), a kind cf godwit"(callcd yellow legs, and Bitterns on the 
marshes ; but the first had now all gone to the sea-coast. Tne r?d- 
., Tardus Migratories, breed in the scanty woods, nea- 
to where berries abound ; they fly off in flocks to the coast in Sep- 
tember, and from thence to the more southern countries. There are 
several species of hawks and owls here ; otthe former genus, one spe«. 
cits was very small. 

The rivers and lakes abound with trcuts of three or four kinds, dif- 
fering in size and colour. la one of the source branches of Gander 
River which we crossed, we caught some small fish apparently sal- 
mon fry. A species of fish larger than the trout is said by the In- 
dians to be found in several of the large lakes. 

We were nearly a month in passing over one savanna after another. 
In the interval there are several low granitic beds, stretching as the 
savannas, northerly and southerly. During this time we shot only a 
few deer, but many geese, ducks, and beavers, which with trouts, con- 
stituted our principal food. When we had no game to subsist on, tho 
kil.-ing of which, although certain was irregular, we subsisted on ber- 
ries, which Some spots produced in prodigal abundance. I longed 
for bread for about ten days after our stock was consumed, but after 
that did not miss it. 

When we met deer in a herd, we seldom failed in shooting the fat- 
test. The venison was excellent ; tho fat upon the haunches of some 
of them was two inches in thickness. We shot them with bail or swan 
scording to distance.The leading stag of a herd is generally iho 
fittest, he is as tall as a horse, and must sometimes be shot at full 
. dug pierced hhn, be b o 



£4 

gallops, canters, faultcrs, stands, and tosses his antlers ; his sinewy 
limbs quiver, unwillingly bend, and he stretches out his graceful 
corpse. Should the ball have passed through his heart, hefallsat once» 
probably balanced on all fours. There is regret as well as triumph felt 
in taking possession of the noble vanquished , the broad spreading 
hoofs of the deer are admirably formed for preventing their sinking 
into the marshes. A single deer on the plain, when there are no others 
near to give the alarm, may be approached and knocked down by a 
blow on the head with an axe or tomahawk from a dexterous hunter. 
We happened to see a solitary stag amusing himself by rubbing his 
antlers against a larch tree on a plain ; my Indian treading lightly, 
approached him from behind, and struck him on the head with his 
axe, but did not knock him down ; he of course gallopped off. The 
flesh of the beaver is, by the Indians esteemed the finest of all quad- 
rupeds of the chase, and that of the young beaver justly so — in taste 
it is more like lamb than any other meat. In butchering it, with the 
skin, is flayed off the lining of fat, which is sometimes two inches 
thick round the body. Beavers are commonly shot on the water — 
they seldom come out of their houses by day, but are abroad all 
night ; before sunrise the hunter posts himself undiscovered as near 
as possible to the leeward side ot their house, the beavers at that time 
come out, one following another, directly any of their heads appear 
above the water, it is fired at either with ball or shot, and sometimes 
a whole family is thus killed in succession ; if any escape their re- 
turn to their house is watched before sunrise next morning, in like- 
manner as their departure was in the evening — their bodies float to 
the shore. The black duck shot in the interior remote from the sea, 
is the finest bird for the table in Newfoundland. The trouts are so ea^ 
,ily caught in the rivulets in the interior, they being unacquainted 
with enemies, as to take the artificial fly, merely by holding out the 
line in the hand without a rod. No country in the worl$ can afford 
finer sport than the interior of this island in the months of August and 
September. The beasts of the chase are of a large class, and the 
cover for all game excellent. 

The waters which we crossed contributed something to the rivers 
of the north, and sometimes to those of the south-side of the Island. 
We occasionally crossed some of the large lakes on rafts, when our 
course lay across them and the wind happened to be fair, and there 
appeared nothing to induce us to go round their extremities. We ac- 
complished this by fastening together three or lour trunks of trees with 



25 

withes, and held up a thick bush for a sail, and were blown over 
There was of course considerable risk to our accoutrements attending 
this primitive mode of navigation. The proportion of water to land 
in the savannas country is very great. In some directions northward 
one-half seems to be lakes, of every size and form ; in other direc- 
tions— -one-third, and seldom less. The marbled glossy surface, as it 
appeared from the rising ground,was singularly novel and picturesque. 

In some of the forests stripes of the trees are all borne down in 
the same direction flat to the earth — by wind, and the havoc display- 
ed is awful, Such parts were almost impassible — the way through 
the woods elsewhere, except by the deer paths is obstructed by wind- 
fallen trees and brushwood. There are extensive districts remarka- 
ble for abundance of berries towards the centre of the island, which 
attract great numbers of black bears. The paths or beats of these 
animals throughout their feeding grounds are stamped with marks of 
antiquity seemingly co-eval with the country. The points of rocks 
that happen to project in their way are perfectly polished from hav- 
ing been continually trodden and rubbed. • Although we had seen 
fresh tracks of wolves every day and were sometimes within a few 
yards of them in the thickets — yet we only caught a glimpse of one 
of them. They lie wait amongst the bushes and listen for the ap- 
proach of deer and rush upon them. When they saw man instead of 
deer they immediately fled ; there are two kinds of wolves here, one 
large, that prowls singly or in couples, another small, sometimes met 
with in packs. 

Taking a general view of the mineralogy of the savanna territory, 
the rocks of the savannas are granite quartz, and cholorite greenstone 
the same as already noticed, mica, chlorite, and transition clay slates. 
The granite is pink and grey, and sienitio. It throws itself In low 
beds lying northerly and s outherly, higher than the savannas, and 
also appears with the greenstone and slate rocks at the edges of the 
lakes, and other water courses. It occurs of a globular structure on 
the verge of the savanna country westward of that branch of Clode 
bound River which we crossed. The balls are round, and vary in 
size from a few inches to a fathom and upwards in diameter. In the 
whole of this savanna territory which forms the eastern central por- 
tion of the interior, there rises but one mountain which is a solitary 
peak or pap of granite, standing very conspicuous about forty-five 
miles north from the mouth of the west Salmon River of Fortune Uay 
on the south coast. It served as an object by which to check our 
course and distance for about two weeks. 1 named it Mount Sylvea- 



26 

ter, the name of my Indian. The bed of granite, of which Mount 
Sylvester is a part, is exposed in a remarkable manner to the north- 
east of that pap near Gower Lake. Here are displaj^ed the features 
of the summit of an immense mountain mass, as if just peeping above 
the earth ; huge blocks of red, pink and grey granite — often very 
coarse grained, and of quartz — but compact and granular, lie in cum- 
brous and confused heaps," like the ruins of a world' f *— over which 
we had to climb, leap, slide and creep. They sometimes lie in fan- 
tastical positions — upon an enormous mass of gray granite may be 
seen as if balanced on a small point of contact, another huge mass of 
red granite more durable in quality, and this crowned by a third 
boulder. Their equilibrium invites the beholder to press of j shoulder 
to them to convince him of his feebleness. These masses seem fo be 
the remaining modules of strata or beds that once existed here ; the 
more perishable parts having kmg since crumbled and disappeared, 
thus evincing the power of time. Quartz rock, both granular and 
compact, the latter sometimes rose-coloured, occurs associated with 
granite. On the summit of a low bristly ridge formed principally of 
granular quariz,nearly half way across the Island, are two large masses 
of granular quartz, standing apart at the bottom, and nearly meeting 
at top ; seen at a distance from the North or South, they have the 
appearance of one mass with a hole through it. Hence this spot is 
called Rook Hole by the Indians. Plates of mica six inches and up- 
wards in length, are found attached to the quartz when the latter is 
associated with granite. Rolled agates, sometimes transparent, are 
fouud on the shores of some of the lakes : mica slate often occurs; and 
at Carson lake it immediate!}' joins coarse red granite. Chlorite slate 
of a peculiar graudular texture, is met with . to the north ot Mount 
Sylvester. The series of clay slate rocks alternates everywhere, with 
thick strata of the chlorite greenstone, which owing to its greater du- 
rability projects in outgoings above these, and is therefore often er 
seen ; the clay, alum, and roof slates have iron pyrites imbeded. 

Throughout this great Eagtern Division of the interior, we did not 

sec oven the signs of way alluvial soil. This province of savannas, 

although of do territorial value at present, is destined to become a 

very important integral part of Newfoundland. Judging from their 

count:' , and from the size and condition of the few deer wo 

is already seemingly amply stocked w ith that kind of cattle of 

rrt of North East America posses&es so peculiar a te- 

uperfioial drainage 'and tilling might effect towards 

crops here remain.- to be proved. Many of the hu 



vannas exhibit proofs of being once wooded ; and in some places with 
a much larger growth of trees than that at present in their vicinity. 
Boots of large trees, with portions of the trunks attached, and lying 
near, are sometimes seen occupying evidently the original savanna 
soil on which they grew, but are now partially,or wholly covered with 
savanna fires originating with the Indians, and from lightning have in 
many parts destroyed the forest, and it would seem that a century o 
more must elapse in this climate before a forest of the same magni.. 
tude of growth can be re-produced naturally on the savannas. It is 
observed of peat, * that, " burning, and the turning of the surface by- 
agricultural implements are the chief means by which the vegetation 
of these soils is exchanged for more profitable plants. To these must 
be added the growth of larch, under which the original covering is 
gradually extirpated and replaced by a green and grassy surface ap- 
plicable to the pasturage of cattle." Larch, of all other trees, is that 
to which this climate and the savanna soil are most congenial. The 
savannas are almost invariably skirted with it, and it grows from the 
wettest swamp to the summits of the highest hills where fir cannot 
live. The fruit of the sar^aparilla, two kinds, Smilax rolundifolia, 
and S. Sarsaparilla were ripe and vegetating in the beginning of Oc- 
tober. Wild currants, gooseberries and raspberries were plentiful in 
many places ; the latter as in all other parts of North America, only 
where the woods have been recently burnt. The berries here are 
much superior to the berries of the same species near the sea coast. 
They appear to grow for little immediate purpose ; as the quantity 
which the bears, foxes, and the birds fatten upon is comparatively in- 
considerable to that produced. The different varieties of whortleberry 
are very distinctly marked — some of them grow to a size and perfec- 
tion that would render them esteemed rather than a fine fruit in any 
country. 

Fogs are not frequent in the interior. There was not a foggy day 
until the fourth of October, which came with a southerly wind. There 
was no frost to hurt vegetation materially, until the third of October, 
and that unaccompanied with snow. But the frost, of that night 
changedone-halfofthevegecation.cn the surface of the savannas, 
from a light vegetable green to a ye'ilow colour. Our attention was 
arrssted twice by observing the (racks of a man on the savannas. — 
After a scrupulous and minute examination, wo concluded that one 
of them was that of a mi^kraack or mountaineer Indian, who had beeu 

* l>y Dr. McCullock in his valuable paper " Ua Peat" la the Edinburgh I. 
phicil Journal, No. 2 and 4, li2 ), 



25 

hunting here in the preceding year, and from the point of the foot 
being steep— that he was going, laden with furs, to the Bay of Des- 
pair. The other track was on the shores of Grower Lake, of an In- 
dian who had passed by this season apparently from the Bay of Des- 
pair towards Gander Bay. Wo saw no traces however of the Red 
Indians. The print of a foot remains distinct on the soft surface of 
the savannas for years or longer. Any track or course differing from 
thosb or the deer, in their usual undisturbed walks, is detected by the 
eye at once. 

October 7th. — The nights and mornings wore now frosty ; and the 
vegetable kingdom had put on its autumnal colouring of various tinti. 
The waters as well as the air were becoming more chilly every day. 
A favourable change of wind did not now bring the accustomed mild- 
ness of temperature. 

We had been occupied since the eleventh September in travelling 
the savanna country. 

A hilly ridge in the westward, lying northerly and southerly which 
had been in view several days, and about the centre of the Island, on 
our near approach bore an aspeot different from any we had yet seen, 
appearing of a bright brown colour along the summit— bristly and 
castellated. The rocks for some miles to the eastern were often of 
various colours, and impregnated with iron, and the shores of the 
lakes presented remarkable coloured stones, resembling pieces of burnt 
clay and broken pottery. On arriving on it this ridge proved to be a 
serpentine deposite, including a variety of rocks, all lying in nearly 
vertical strata alternating. The conspicuous points were the large 
angular blocks of quartz rock, lying on out goings of the same ranged 
along the summit. This rock was very ponderous, owing to much dis- 
seminated iron pyrites the oxidation of which externally, gave it the 
brown colour. The fresh fracture exhibited a metallic reddish grey. 
The mineralogical appearances here were altogether so singular that I 
resolved to stop a day or two to examine them. All the highest parte 
of the rid^e were formed of this metalline rock, and were extremely 
sterile. The other rocks were, noble serpentine, varying in colour 
from black green to a yellow, and from translucent to semi-transpa- 
rent, in strata nearly a yard wide ; — Stealite, or soap -stone, verde 
antiquo, diallege, and various other magoesian rocks. Sterile red 
earthy patches, entirely destitute of vegetation, were here and there 
on and adjacent to the ridge, and on these lay heaps of loose frag- 
ments of asbestos, rock wood, rock cork, rock leather, rook horn, rock 
bone, and stones light in the hand, resembling burnt olay. Cum mul- 



29 
tis aliis, the whole haviog tht appearance of heapi of rubbish from a 
pottery, but evidently detached from adjoining strata and veins. I 
could not divest myself from the feeling that we were in the vicinity 
of a quiescent voloano. 

The beaches of many of the lakes of the neighbourhood, as already 
noticed, are formed of disintegrated fragments of those rocks. At one 
lake in particular, which I in consequence denominated Serpentine 
Lake, the beauty and interesting appearance of some of the beaches- 
composed entirely of rolled fragments of those rocks of every kind and 
colour, the red, yellow, and green prevailing may be fancied better 
than described. A part of the eastern shore is formed of a hard 
greenish gray rock, in large loose flags, indented straight grooves, 
which when struck as we tread upon them emitted sound like pieces 
of metal. Serpentine Lake is comparatively small, being about two 
miles and a-half in length by one in breadth. It is known to the 
mickmack Indian by the Indian name for it, or Stone Pipe Lake, 
from their procuring here Berd antique, and other magnesian rocks, 
out of which they carve or chisel tobacco-pipes, much prized by them, 
The people then, like the ancients of the old world, are not unac- 
quainted with the incombustible nature of the magnesia minerals. 

In the woods on the margin of Serpentine Lake wo found an old 
birch-rind canoe of the mickmaok Indians, the same as those used by 
these people at the sea coast. It had been brought up from the Bay 
of Despair at the south- coast ot the Island, by them of the Cod Bay 
River, which runs through this and intervening lakes. From the cir- 
cumstance of finding this canoe here, we inferred that the portages 
between Serpentine Lake and the sea coast were not very extensive or 
difficult. Here then is a route of the Indians by which the centre of 
the Island may be approached with the same canoe, and close by are 
the sources of rivers that flow to the north coast. There was an in- 
habited beaver's house at the south end of Serpentine Lake, and we 
shot three of the family that occupied it for food. There were several 
herds of deer around. The white-headed eagle was also an inhabi- 
tant of this part. 

This interesting ridge and district, which forms the centre nearly 
of Newfoundland, I designated in honor of an exoellent friend and 
distinguished promoter of science and enterprise — Professor Jameson, 
of Edinburgh — Jameson's Mountains. Judging from the rise in the 
land for about thirty miles to the eastward, they are about twelve 
hundred feet above th* level of the eea, Future travellers may easily 



so 

reach Jameson's Mountains by the route mentioned : and I hope soma 
may soon follow the first there ; for they deserve a much more perfect 
examination than could be given on a first visit by a half worn-out 
pedestrian traveller. 

October 10^. — Being now near the centre of the Island,upwards of 
one hundred and ten miles from the most inland part of Trinity Bay, 
about ninety miles of of the distance being across the savannas — we 
had not yet seen a trace of the Red Indians. It had been supposed 
that all the central parts of the Island were occupied by these people, 
and I had been daily looking out for them. They were however more 
likely to be fallen in with farther to the westward. Taking a retro- 
spective, as well as a prospective geological view from Jameson's 
Mountains, the serpentine deposite of which they are formed,separates 
the low slate country, covered with savannas, through which the gra- 
nitic rocks occasionally peep, in the east, from a high and entirely 
granitic country that appears in the west. It was now nearly five 
weeks since with my Indian I left the sea coast, and was just half-way 
to St. George's Bay. We had for some time past felt severely the 
effects of continued excessive exertion, of wet, and of irregular sup- 
plies of food. My Indian, and only companion, complained muoh of 
the never-ending toil, and would willingly have gone out to the sea, 
if I had yielded to his wish. But with me it was " now or never ;" 
and I had apprehensions of being overtaken by the winter ere we 
could reach St. George's Bay. To keep my Indian at the toilsome 
task, I had sometimes to encourage him by promises of future reward, 
sometimes to excite his emulation by allusions to the fame of the In- 
dian hunters for enduring fatigue and hardships beyond what the white 
man could bear; and again to picture the shame consequent on his 
leaving me in the country to perform alone what we had set out to do 
together. 

PART V. 

Continue the Journey into the Western Interior. 

In the West, mountain succeeds mountain in irregular succession, 
'rugged and bleak. Encumbered with many additional mineralogical 
specimens, we took our departure from the interesting central moun- 
tains, for my part hoping that I might yet see them again. Imme- 
diately on the west, they are succeeded by gnies, and next to that 
comes the hungry granitic territory, still almost as barren to imagi- 
nation as at the creation. Wacke, or conglomerate is associated with 
the gnies in tortuois strata, veins, and stripes, indicative of motallina 



SI 

qualities. We were sometimes compelled to climb and creep our way 
over confused heaps of granite and white compact quartz. There are 
occasional marshes, and some of the less exposed spots produce stunt- 
ed spruce and larch trees ; other spots produce ground berries iu 
great plenty. A species of Ledum, or Indian tea is met with here, 
different from that commonly found at the sea coast. It is a more per- 
fectly formed shrub, with £maller,rounder, and more numerous leaves, 
lichens grow everywhere, from the edge of the lake to the mountain 
top ; and deer now begin to appear in small herds in every direction. 

October 11th. — While surveying a large lake in the south-west we 
descried a faint column of smoke issuing from amongst islands near 
the south shore, about five miles distant. The time we hoped had at 
laBt come to meet the Red Indians. Rivers rise here, as they had 
throughout our journey, owing to our track being central, that run 
to both sides of the Island, but it could not be seen to which side 
this lake contributed its waters. The Red Indians had been le- 
ported not to frequent the south sido of the Island. It was too late 
in the day to reconnoitre, and my Indian went in pursuit of a herd 
of deer iu another direction, we having no provision for supper. At 
sunset he did not meet me at the appointed wood in a valley hard 
by, nor did be return by midnight, nor at all. I dared not exhibit 
a fire on the hill, as a beacon to him, in sight of the strange en- 
campment. His gun might have burst and injured him; he might 
have fled, or been surprised by the party on the lake. 

October 12th. — At daybreak the atmosphere was frosty, and the 
slender white column of smoke still more distinctly seen. There 
were human beings there, and, deserted, I felt an irresistab'e desire to 
approach my fellow creatures, whether they should prove friendly or 
hostile. Having put my gun and pistols in the best order, and no 
appearance of my Indian at noon, I left my knapsack and all incum- 
brances, and descended through thickets and marshes towards the 
nearest path of the lake, about two miles distant. The white sandy 
shore, formed of disintegrated granite, was much trodden over by 
deer and other animals, but there were no marks of men discernable. 
The extent of the lake was uncertain; but it was apparent that it 
would require two days at least to walk round either end to tho 
nearest point of the opposite shore to the occupied island. I there- 
fore kept on my own side to discover who the party were. By firing 
off my gun, if the party were Red Indians, they would in all prob- 



32 

bility move off quickly on hearing the report, and they having a® 
firearnii, ray fire would not bo answered. If they were other In- 
dians my fire would be returned. I fired. By and by the report 
of a strange gun travelled among tbe islands from the direction of 
the smoke, and thus all my doubts and apprehensions were dispelled^ 
The report of this gun was the first noise I had heard caused by 
man, except by my Indian and myself, for more than five weeks, and 
it excited very peculiar feelings. 

In about an hour my lost Indian unexpectedly made his appear- 
ance from the direction where we had parted on the preceding eve- 
ning, brought to the spot by the report of ray gun. He accounted 
for himself, " that after having shot a stag about two miles from the 
spot appointed for our encampment, he attempted to get round the 
west end of the lake to reconnoitre the party on the island, bufc 
found the distance too great, and getting benighted, had slept in 
the woods." 

Soon afterwards to my great delight, there appeared among some 
woody islets in front, which precluded the view of the other side o* 
the lake, a small canoe with a man seated in the stern, paddling 
softlv towards us, with an air of serenity and independence possessed 
only by the Indian. After a brotherly salutation with me, and the 
two Indians kissing each other, the hunter proved to be unable to 
speak English or French. They however soon understood one ano- 
ther ; for the stranger, although a mountaineer from Labrador, could 
speak a little of the mickmack language, his wife being a mickmack. 
The mountaineer tribe belongs to Labrador, and he told us that he 
had come to Newfoundland, hearing that it was a better hunting 
country than his own, and that he was now on his way hunting from 
St. George's Bay to the Bay of Despair to spend the winter ffith the 
Indians there. He had left St. George's Bay two months befor e, and 
expected to be at the Bay of Despair in two weeks hence. This was 
his second year in Newfoundland, he was accompanied by his wife 
only. My Indian told him that I had come to see the rocks,the deer, 
the beavers, and the Red Indians, and to tell King George what was 
going on in the middle of that country. He said St. George's Bay 
was about two weeks walk from us if we knew the best way, and in- 
vited us over with him in his canoe and rest a day at his camp, 
where he said be had plenty of venison, which was readily agreed to 
on my part. 

The island on which the mountaineer'* camp was, lay about three 
Miles distant. The varying see ntry as we paddled towards it, amongst 



33 

innumerable islands and inlets, all of granite, and mostly covered with 
.spruce and birch trees, was beautiful. His canoe was similar to thoao 
desoribed to have been used by the ancient Britons on the invasion by 
the Romans. It was made of wicker-work, covered over outside with 
deer skins sewed together stretched on it, nearly of the usual form of 
^anoes, with a bar or beam across the middle, and one on each end to 
strengthen it. The skin covering flesh side out, was fastened or la- 
ced to the gunwales, with thongs of the same material. Owing to 
decay and wear it requires to be renewed once in from six to twelve 
weeks. It is in these temporary barks that the Indians of Newfound- 
land of the present day navigate the lakes and rivers of the interior. 
They are easily carried, owing to their lightness, across the portages 
from one water to another, and when damaged easily repaired. There 
were innumerable granite rocks in the lake a little below and above 
the surface ; on one of these our canoe struck and rubbed a hole 
through the half-decayed skin, and was attended with some risk to 
our persons and guns. His wigwam was situated in the centre of a 
wooden islet at which we arrived before sunset. The approach from 
<the landing place was by a mossy carpeted avenue, formed by the trees 
having been cut down in that direction for firewood. The sight of a 
fire, not of our own kindling, of which we were to partake, seemed 
hospitality. It was occupied by his wife above seated on a deer- 
skin busy sowing together skins of the same kind to renew the out- 
side of the canoe we had just found required it. A large Newfound- 
land dog, her only companion in her husband's absence, had welcom- 
ed us at the landing-place with signs of the greatest joy. Sylvan 
happiness reigned here. His wigwam was of a semicircular form cov- 
ered with birch rind, and dried deerskins, the fire on the fore ground 
outside. Abundance and neatness pervaded the encampment. O.i 
horizontal poles over the fire, hung quantities of venison steaks, being 
smoked dry. The hostess was cheerful, and a supper, the best the 
chase could furnish, was soon set before us on sheets of birch rind. 
They told me to u make their camp my own, and use everything in it 
as such." Kindness so elegantly tendered by these people of nature 
in the'.r solitude, commenced to soften those feelings which had been 
fortified against receiving any comfort except that of my own admin- 
istering. The excellence of the venison, and of the flesh of* voun t 
beavers, could not be surpassed. A cake, of hard deer's fat, with 
scraps of suet, toasted brown, intermixed, was eaten with the meat, 
soup was the drink. Our hostess after nipper sang several Indian 
Bonga at my request. Tiicj were plaintive, and sun* in a \ug\ 



54 

The song of a female,' and her contentment in this remote and seclud- 
ed spot exhibited the strange diversity there is in human nature. My 
Indian entertained them incessantly until near!}' daylight with stories 
about what he had seen in St. John's. Our toils were for the time 
forgotten. The moun 4 .aiuecr had occupied this camp for about two 
weeks, deer being very plenty ail around the lake. His larder, 
which was a kind of shed, erected on the rocky shore for the sake of a 
free circulation of air, was in reality a well-stocked butcher's stall, 
containing p<rts of some half-dozen fat deer; also the carcasses of 
beavers, of otters, of musk rats, and ol martins, all methodically laid 
out. His property consisted of two guns and ammunition, an axe, 
some good. culinary utensils of iron and tin, blankets, an apartment 
of dried deer skins to sleep on and with which to cover his.wigwarn 
■ — the latter with the hair off; a collection of skins to sell at the sea 
coast, consisting of those of beaver, otter, martin, musk rat,and deer, 
the last dried and the hair off; also a stock of dried venison in bun- 
dles. Animal flesh of every kind— in steaks, without salt, smoke- 
dried on the fire for forty-eight hours, becomes nearly as light and 
portable as cork, and will keep sound for years. It thus forms a good 
substitute fur bread, and by being boiled two hours recovers most of 
its original qualities. 

The Hod Indians country, or the waters which they frequented, we 
were told by the mountaineer, lay six or seven miles to the north of 
us, but at this season of the year these people were likely to bo far- 
ther to the northward at the Great Lake of the Red Indians; also, 
that about two weeks before, there was a party of mickmack, hunting 
at the next large lake to the westward, about two days walk from us; 
and that the deer were very plentiful to the westward. lie also des- 
cribed the nature of the country and made drawings, upon sheets of 
birch-rind, of the lakes, river?, niouutains, and woods, that lay in the 
best route to St. George's harbor, lie kept a .register a 
tainib* when Christmas Day would arrive : having ascertained at St. 
Georges Bay the number of days intervening, he eut a notch on a 
pliek every morning to the number ol that holiday. He had missed a 
..lay and now rectified the mistake. This lake, called Meelpegh, or 
Crooked lake, by the Indians, I also named in honor of Prof 

... or ten luiloa hi length, by 'rem one to three in 

tine : by a strait to another lake nearly as large lying south 

-called Burnt Bay Lake, a i chain "of lakes cou. 

. ■... • ' Lliycr of the Bay of ' ' '• noticed, 



35 
Hi running through Serpentine Lake, which forms a part of the grand 
route of the Indians. 

October 14ti— -We left the veteran mountaineer (James John by 
name) much pleased with our having fallen in with him. He landed 
us from his canoe on the south-shore of the lake, and we took our de- 
parture for the westward — along the souUv-sUe, truly could this man 
proclaim ; — 

•'' I'm monarch of all I .survey. 
My right there is none to dispute ; 
From the centre all round to the sea, 
I ajn lord of the fowl and the brute." 

October loth. — There is a considerable quantity of fir woods on 
the borders of Jameson's lake. We fell in wiih a summer as well as 
a winter's beavers' house, both of them inhabited, evidently by the 
same family, this being the time when they are changing their abodes. 
We found none of them however at home; the houses were about 
half-a-mile apart, the summer one on the edge of an artificial dam, 
and the winter one in the middle of a small pond, surrounded with 
birch trees on the acclivity of a hill. The first snow fell this after- 
noon with a gentle wind from the north-north-east, and so thick as to 
compel us to shelter and encamp in a wood that happened fortunately 
to be near. It continued to snow so heavy, that at midnight our fire 
was extinguished, and firewood buried. But the silent uniform fall 
and pressureof the snow over our screen, and the blankets in which 
we were wrapped kept us warm. 

October lQlk. — In the morning three feet of snow covered the 
ground in the woods, and on the open ground it was deeper. Our 
provisions were exhausted, nor could we get through the snow to 
look for game. Weakened and miserable we looked anxiously for a 
change of wind and thaw. The trees wern loaded with snow. At 
night a thaw came, but with it a southerly wind that brought both 
the snow and many of the largest trees to the ground together. There 
being no irost in the ground, the roots of the trees were not snfrieiont- 
]y bound in the earth to stand under the extraordinary pressure of 
snow and wind. Our fire was buried again and again by the sno-.v 
from the trees, and as we were as likely while standing up as lying 
down, by the trees that crashed and shook the ground around us all, 
night, we lay still wrapped in our blankets amidst the danger, and 
providentially escaped unhurt. The birch had attained a pretty large 
size in this sheltered spot, under the lie of a hill, w' . | sailed 



S6 

Mount Misery, In the forest, while the storm rages above, it \s 
at tbe foot of the trees. 

October 11th. — We were still storm-stayed, and could only view 
the wreck of the forest close to us. Our situation was truly misera- 
ble; but the snow was fast melting away. I felt alarmed at the 
winter setting in thus early, for the consequences ere we could reach 
the sea coast. 

October l%th. — The snow having shrunk a foot at least, we left our 
wretched encampment, and after a most laborious walk of six or eight 
miles through snow, thickets, and swollen brooks, and passing many 
deer, scraping holes in the snow with their hoofs to reach the 
lichens underneath, without however being able to get within 
shot of them ; we not only reached the lake to the west- 
ward but to our great joy, also discovered in consequence 
of meeting with some of their martin traps, the encampment 
of the Indians, of whom we had been told by the mountaineer. My 
dress, once gray,now bleached white, was seen by some of the Indians 
as we emerged from a spruce thicket, a great distance oft. The party 
were encamped in one large wigwam, or kind of but. We entered 
with little ceremony, my Indian kissing them all — male and female- 
None of them could speak English, and only one a little French. A 
deer-skin was spread for me to sit on, at the innermost part of the 
dwelling. My Indian interpreted, and introduced me in the same 
particular terms as before. They were mickmacks and natives of 
Newfoundland, and expressed themselves glad to see me in the mid- 
dle of their country, as the first white man that had ever been here. 
The Indian amongst his fellows is a purely self-dependent being — an 
innate power of self-denial, raises him above dependence upon others, 
and keeps him beyond their interference, even in distressing wants, 
which yields mental triumph and glory. Want implies inability in 
the hunter. I observed these people bestow, and my Indian receive 
attention, with seeming indifference. He smoked the pipe given to 
him with the same composure as after a feast, although starvation 
and unconcealable hunger were depicted in his countenance. Supper 
was soon ready which consisted entirely of boiled venison. All 
seated around the fire, in the centre of the wigwam, partook at once, 
although enfeebled by want of sustenance, I could eat only a few 
mouthfull*. The jaws would not perform their office without great 
pain trom want of practice. Fortunately the stomaoh sympathised, 
for it could bear but little. They toli us that we might reach St, 



37 

George's Bay in about ten days ; that they had left that place in the 
middle of summer, and had since then been hunting in the western 
interior, — several weeks latterly having been spent at this lake, where 
deer were plenty ; and that they intended in a few weeks hence, be- 
fore the lakes and rivers were frozen over to repair to White Bear 
Bay, at the southward, to spend the winter : that place having been 
always celebrated for immense herds of deer passing by in the winter 
season. The Indian idea of a road 13 to Europeans little else than a 
probability of reaching a distant place alive — and I foresaw from their 
report, much suffering before we could reach St. George's Bay. Here 
were three families amounting to thirteen persons in number. The 
men and boys wore surtouts made of deer skins, the hair outside, but- 
toned and belted round them which looked neat and comfortab.e. 
Their caps were of mixed fur ; they had not procured much fur fcr 
sale, only a few dozen martin, some otter, and musk rat skins ; of 
beaver skins they had very few, as beavers are scarce in the western 
interior, it being too mountainous for woods, except on the shel- 
tered borders of some of the lake?. In the woods around the margin 
of this lake, the Indians had lines of path equal to eight or ten miles 
in extent, set with wcoden traps, or dead falls, about one hundred 
yards apart, baited for martins, which they visited every second day. 
They had two skin canoes in which they paroled around the lake, to 
visit their traps and bring home their game. The Red Indian coun- 
try we were told was about ten or fifteen miles northward of us, but 
that at this time, as the mountaineer had likewise informed us, these 
people were all farther to the northward, at the Great Lake where 
they were accustemed to lay up their winter stock of venison. Those 
people corroborated previous, as well as subsequent inquiries, respect- 
ing the number of their own, and of the other communicating tribes in 
the Island. 

PART VI. 

Of the Red Indians and the other Tribes. 

All the Indians in the Island, exclusive of the Red Indians, amount 
to nearly a hundred and fifty, dispersed in bands communly at the 
following places or districts — St. George's Harbor, and Great Cod 
Roy River on the west coast ; White Bear Bay, and the Bay of Des- 
pair on the south coast ; Clode Sound in Trinity Bay on the east ; 
Gander Bay on the north coast, and occasionally at Bonne Bjy and 
the Bay of Islands on the north-west coast. They are composed of 
raickmacks, joined by some of the mountaineer tribe from Labrador, 
and a fe»v of the Abenkies from Canada. The Esquimaux, from La- 



28 

brador occasion:.'.", y. I« ;*nd. There are twc 

seven or twenty-eight families altogether, averaging five to each family 
— and ire : : six single men. They all follow the same mode of life 
— hunting in \h :. from the middle of snmmer till the begin- 

ning of winter in the s: :._'. :=. or in two or three families to- 

gether. They go from lake to lake, hunting all over the country 
around one before they proceed to the next. They padd'e along the 
borders, and the men proceed on foot up every rivulet, brook, and rill 
—beavers being their primary object of search, otters, martins, mask 
:: ; and every liv ing thing — secondly, wh en the lakes are connected 
by ri : rs, tor whi h : porta ; ■:- 5 : twee n them are short, they proceed 
in or carry their canoes with them, otherwise :i;ey leave these, and 
::hers en arriving at their destination. The hunting season, 
which is the months of Septen:' be and :■-. :ber, being over, they re- 
pair to the sea coast ~ : :'i their furs, and they barter it for ammuni- 
nition. :".:.:: ng tea, rum, i: and then most :i them retire to spend 
the winter at or near the mou::.- ::' the large risers, where eels are to 
be procured through the ice by Bpcaring, endeavouring at the same 
time access of the winter paths of the deer. A great division of the 
interior of Newfoundland is exdnaivelj r : messed, and hunted over by 
Red Indians, and is considered as their territory by the others. In 
when the c ■-:-.! tribes were upon an equality in re- 
spect of weapons, the >Ke i Indiana were considered invincible, and 
frequently waged war upon the rest.untii the la '.'--. got fire-arms put 
into their hands by Europeans. The E : 

— and described as very large athletic men. They occupy the Great 
or Red Indian Lake, and many other lakes in the northern part of 
the Island, as well as ::.e great L : ve: Exploits. Along the banks of 
this river, and l: great Lake they are said to have extensive 

fences or pounds, by which they ensnare deer, and thus procn: 
gnlarlj :. supply 1 for winter provisions. 

of the Indians here hi -len in with the Red Indians, 

and on one occasion obtained possession of their camp, in which they 
assert they four. /iropean blankets and other articles of clo- 

thing, which it is presum: They also stated 

that the Red Indians use the same kind of skir. in the inte- 

rior, as they thet lo, and that they paint themselves all over. 

The ancient Britons painted their bodies blue, at the period they used 
canoes of a similar description in the interior of the Island. The 
tribe. c \ e of the Red Indians, have no chief in Newfoundland 



33 
— but there are several individuals at St. George's Bay to whom they 
all pay a deference. The mickmacks, although nio.-t of them born in 
this Island, consider Cape Breton, where the chiefs reside, as their 
head-quarters. Their several tribes intermarry. These people might 
be rendered useful if some of the leaders were noticed by the 33/. 
Government. Had this been earlier done it mig'.u have saved that 
taruish on humanity the butchery of the interesting Aborigines — the 
Bed Indians, by Englishmen. The communicating tribes consume 
their share of British manufactures, and mainly contribute to the sup- 
port of the far trade of the Island. The French have their principal 
confidence and affection. The mest important subject £o the Indiana 
at present cocnected with His Majesty's Government, relates to 
beaver-hunting. They are most anxious that King George, as they 
call His Majesty, should make a law to prevent the hunting of beav- 
ers iu the spring season. They acknowledge the practice of huut- 
iug them then, and also that the practice will soon destroy them 
get her, as the animals are then with young. But they cannot desist 
of their own accord, being by nature hunters. They state that a con- 
siderable traffic has been carried on in venison between some of the 
Indians at AYhite Bear Bay, anil the French at the Island of St. 
Peters. In one instance a single Indian has been known to convey 
OTer forty carcasses at onee, and sell them for twenty shillings each. 
The capabilities of some of the ludians in hunting seem almost incre- 
:o those who have not seen their powers tried. Some single 
Indians will run down a stag: when the stag is fat, he is sometimes 
. an arduous pursuit, and it is then only he is liable to be 
ted to exhaustion. The hunter will commence the chase early iu 
the day, and by following it up without intermission, will before night 

it firing a shot. Tae stag at first easily 

.rsurcr ; bat after a run ot four or five miles he stop3 

- by and b : ;en ; again he sets off. and again he is over- 

i ; again, and again, he is overtaken ; he lies down fatigued but 

is again surprised ; thus the chase is kept up, until the poor stag, iu 

air of eluding his pursuer, plunges into a pool or morass to escape. 

3t winning the day. The Indians find their way through 

nests by marks with which they are familiar. Thus moss grows 

. th not on the sou'h side of trees ; the tops and branches of 

uclination or stretching to the south-east; wind-ialku 

'joint to the northward, &o. They have a call or toll for every 

tnd bird to bring them within shot ; for the deer, au 



40 

ottsr, a whistle, &c. They are Roman Catholics ; but ibeir religious 
ceremonies, of which they are observant, consist of a combination of 
that church — and their own primitive ceremonies blended together, 
to suit their convenience and tastes. The inmates of the camp, by the 
earliest dawn of day, all joined in prayer ; and nearly the whole of a 
Sunday, on which it happened I was with them, they spent in eingiug 
hymns. They had in their possession a French manuscript of sacred 
music, given to them, they said, by the French Roman Catholic cler- 
gyman at the Island of St. Peters, whom they consider their confesssor, 
and endeavour to see once in two years. One of the mickmacks of 
this party, named Paul, boasted of maternal descent from a French 
Governor of Prince Edward Island. 

The Indians seldom carry salt with them into the interior, nor, with 
very few exceptions do they require it. Tbey never carry spirits, the 
excessive ute of which by a few of them when at the coast enervates 
and renders them incapable for the time, of undergoing the fatigue, 
abstinence, and exposure to weather, which they afterwards bear to a 
surprising degree, as a duty, without any immediate ill effects. The 
Red Indians are ofcourse unacquainted with salt, as well as with all 
foreign luxuries when their food is altogether animal, salt is not de- 
sired nor does it seem to be necessary. Supper is the chief repast 
with the hunter ; in the evening he enjoys the fruits of the day's 
chase, and recounts in his turn his adventures. Most of the Indians 
when they would otherwise be in the prime of life, have broken consti- 
tutions by over-exertions, casualties, and exposure to weather. Their 
perilous mode of life also leads them to be more subject to some kinds 
of bodily infirmities, than men in more dense societies. They have most 
of their remedies within themselves.The following plants among others, 
are used medicinally by them — . 



Plants. 



Geum vivale, or 
chocolate root 



Sarracenia pur- 
purea, or Indian 
cup 



Havernaria dik- 
tats 



Part 
used. 



Root 



Hoot 



Root 

Root 



Preparation. 



Strong decoction 



Strong decoction 



Expressed juice 



Expressed juice 



How Adminis- 
tered. 



Drank a Jill two 
or three times a 
day or oftener. 

A table or tea- 
spoonful drank 
frequently during 
the day, with ab- 
sinence for sever- 
al days 

Drank a jill at a 
time with" a little 
water 
Drank a jill at a 



Disease. 



Dysentery, colds, 
and coughs,parti- 

eularly tor chil- 
dren. 
Spitting of blood 
and other pulmo- 
nary complaints. 



Gravel 



41 



1 


Part | 




How Aclininis-i 




Plants* 


used. 


Preparation. 


tered. 


Disease. 


Sorbus Americana 


Bark 


Infusion 


Drank 


Cholic. 


Nymphoco Odo- 


Root 


Expressed juice 


Drank 


Coughs. 


rato 
Ditto Ditto 


Rot 


Boiled 


Poultice 


Swellings 


Nuphar advena 


oct 


Bruised with flour 
or meal 




Swellings and 
bruises 


Merganthes tri fo- 


Root 


Very strong de- 


Drank 




lia 




coction 






Salix (vulgare) 


Root 


Scrape into spirits 


Poultice 


Bruises, sprains 
& broken bones. 


Xalmia angus ti- 


Leaves 


Hot water with 


Drank. 


Stomach com- 


folia 




very weak infusion 
— poison, if strong. 




plaints 


Pinus Balsamea, 




Inner Bark 


Boiled 


Sores, swelling, 


P.Strohus, Young, 








&e. 


and P.Miscroearpa 










Cornus stricta 


Bark 


Dried 


Mixed with tooac- 
co for smoking 




Taxus Canadensis 


Leaves 


Very strong con- 


As a green dye 




Salix (vulgari) 




centrateddecoction 






Salix (vulgari) 


Root 




As a Mack dye 




Ditto Ditto 


Leaves 


Bruised with hot 

water 

Decoction 




sprains&bruises 


Vaccinium hispd- 


Leaves or 


As a tea 




ulum 


the plant 




1 




Ledum Dalifolium 


Leaves 


Decoction 


1 As a tea 


Diuretic 


Pinus Microcarpa 


Boughs 


Decoction 


As a tea 


Diuretic 


S orbus Americ ana 


Bark 


Infusion 


1 As tea 





The liscivium from the ashes of deers' bones is drank as an astringent.- The yolk 
of eggs and turpentine, equal parts, or vary the proportions with the nature of the 
sore, applied as a salve, is said to have effected cures in desperate cases of ulcers. 

October 'list. — The weather having been mild for the last few days, 
much of the snow had dissolved, it lay chiefly on banks. The Indians 
put us across the lake, and wc took our departure for the westward, 
refreshed by our two days stay with them. The country now became 
mountainous, and almost destitute of wood — deer became more nu- 
merous, berries were very plentiful, and mostly in high perfection al- 
though the snow had lately covered them. Indeed the partridge ber- 
ries were improved, and many spots were literally red with them. 

October 22nd. — On our march to-day we discovered a black bear 
feeding on berries on a hill about a mile off, and stole upon him un- 
awares by a circuitous route from the leewaid. We tired a shot each 
at him, both of which bad effect ; but he ran a, mile before he fell. 
He was very fat, weighing about three hundred and fifty pounds. The 
fat round his body was four inches in some parts. We rested two 
days to feast on him, leaving the remainder, except what we could 
conveniently carry, with regret, from a lively apprehension of the fu- 
ture want of it. Bears flesh is by many of the Indians esteemed next 
to that of beavers, and it has the peculiar quality of cot clogingthe 
stomach however much of it is eaten. My Indian apprised me of this 
circumstance before hand, and availed himself of the fact, for on the 



42 

night of the death of bruin, after we had both began, as I thought to 
sleep, about two o'clock, a.m., I found him busy roasting, frying, 
and devouring as voraciously as if he had eaten no supper. 

October 24^. — The winter had now fairly set in ; the ponds were 
all frozen over ; the birds of passage had deserted the interior of the 
sea coast, and the grouse had got on their white winter coats — many 
hardships now await the traveller. 

PART VII. 
General Features of the Western Interior, etc. 
October 21th. — The western territory is entirely primitive. No rocks 
appear but granitic. The only soil is peat, which vary in quality ae» 
cording to situation. In thevallies some patches are very similar to the 
savanna peat in the eastward ; but as the peat ascends, it becomes 
shallower and lighter until it terminates at the summit of the moun- 
tains in a mere matting; lichens occupy every station, on the peat, 
among the other plants, and on the bare rock. The Arbutus Alpina, 
Potentilla tridentata, Empetrum rugram, and the Lichens occupy the 
highest resting places for vegetation on the mountain tops. The 
trees all vegetating upon peat, are often forced in this region to as- 
sume new features. The larch in particular, will grow in spite of the 
nipping blasts, and where it is not permitted to rise erect on the 
mountain top, as it does on the lower stations, it creeps along tho 
ground to leeward, wheie neither the birch or spruce can exist. It is 
thus sometimes only a few inches in height, and many feet in length. 
The spruce fir-thickets are often only a few feet in height, the trees 
hooked and entangled together, in such a manner as to render it prac- 
ticable to walk upon, but impossible to walk through them. In an 
extensive flat, barren track, that lay on our left, there are a number 
of srr-all conical-shaped granite hills, clad with sombre spruce, which 
resemble islands in an ocean of meagre vegetation Yet there are 
here the remains of extensive forests, destroyed by fire, where now 
there is not a tree* within many miles. Neither reptile nor serpent 
of any kind had yet fallen under our notice, nor had the Indians ever 
frcen or beard of any noxious animal being in the Island. It may 
therefore be concluded that there are none of this class common on 
the neighbouring islands and continent hero. Were the agricultural- 
its of the ccast to come here, they would see herds of cattle, fat on 
natural produce of the country, sufficient for the supply of provision 
to the fisheries, and the same animal fit, with a little training, to draw 
kkdgea at the rule of twenty miles an hour. Nature has liberally 



stocked Newfoundland with berds, finer than which Norway and Lap- 
land can boast. Some of tho reindeer here attain the size of six 
or seven hundred pounds weight, and even upwards. These natural 
herds are the best adapted for this climate and pasture ; and it is evi- 
dent on witnessing their numbers, that all that is required to render 
the interior, now in waste, at once a well -stocked grazing country, 
could be done through the means of employing qualified herdsmen, 
who would make themselves familiar with, and accompany these here's 
from pasture to pasture, as is done in Norway and Lapland with the 
reindeer there, and in Spain with the sheep. When taken young 
these deer become very domestic and tractable. Were the intelligent 
resident inhabitants of the coast, who have an interest in advancing 
the country internally to adopt a plan for effecting this object, under 
their own vigilance, benefits and comforts now unth ought of, could 
be realized. Norweigians or Lapland Finns could be easily intro- 
duced into the interior, if the Indians were unwilling Or unfit. 

We met many thousand of the deer, all hastening to the eastward, 
on their periodical migration. They had been dispersed since the 
spring, on the mountains and barren tracks, in the west and north-west 
division of the interior, to bring forth and rear their young amidst 
the profusion of lichens and mountain herbage, and where they were, 
comparatively with the mountain low lands, free from the persecution 
of flies. When the first frosts, as now in October, nip vegetation, 
the deer immediately turn towards the south and east, and the first 
fall of snow quickens their pace in those directions, as we now nigt 
them, towards the low grounds where browse is to be got and the 
snow not so deep over the lichens. In travelling herd follow herd 
in rapid succession over the whole surface of the country, all bending 
their course the same way in parallel lines. The herds consist of 
from twenty to two hundred each, connected by stragglers or piquets, 
the animals following each other in single tiles, a few yards or feet 
apart, as their paths show; were they to be in close bodies, tbey 
could not graze freely. They continue to travel south-eastward until 
February or March, by which time the returning sun has power to 
soften the snow and permit of their scraping it off to obtain the li- 
chens underneath. They then turn round towards the west, and in 
April are again on the rocky barrens and mountains where their fa- 
vorite mossy food abounds the most, and where in June they bring 
forth their young. In October the frosty warning to travel returns. 
They generally follow the same routes year after year, but these 



44 

sometimes vary, owing to irregularities in the seasons and interrup- 
tions by the Indians. Such are, in a general view, the courses and 
causes of the migrations of the deer, and these seem to be the chief 
design of animated nature in this portion of the earth. Lakes and 
mountains intervening, cause the lines of the migration paths to de- 
viate from the parallel ; and at the necks of land that separate large 
lakes, at the extremity of lakes, and at the straits and running waters 
which unite lakes, the deer unavoidably concentrate in travelling. At 
those passes the Indians encamp in parties, and stay for considerable 
interval of time because they can there procure the deer with compa- 
ratively little trouble. 

After the first great fall of snow, although the acclivities had been 
for a few days laid bare by the mild weather, the summits of the 
mountains remained covered, and the snow lay in banks in the val- 
leys. Light snow-showers afterwards occasionally fell, spreading the 
veil, and thickening the white mantle of winter in every direction. 
We suffered much at night from the inclemency of the weather. The 
trees were here generally so stunted and scanty, that we could hardly 
collect enough of brushwood and roots to keep a very small fire alive ; 
and then we were unavoidably exposed. At one time, for three nights 
in succession, we could not find a dry spot of ground to lie upon. In 
such situations the want ot sleep attended the want of shelter j and 
it was a contest between frost and fire which should have the supre- 
macy over our bodies. Although we could shoot deer at intervals every 
day, no supply of food was adequate to suppose 5 the system under the 
exhaustion and load of painful fatigue which we had to undergo. For 
my part I could measure my strength — that it would not obey the 
will and drag along the frame beyond two weeks more Still it was 
cheering to hope that that space of time would carry us to the west 
coast. Ever since we left the last party of Indians, my Indian disput- 
ed with me about the course we should pursue ; he obstinately insist- 
ing upon going to thesouil^vard. Perhaps he had a secret desire not 
to pass too near the lied Indian country, or he may have heard that 
some of his tribe were encamped in the direction he was inclined to 
go. Asa separation might have led to serious consequences, I sub- 
mitted from necessity. 

October 2Sth. — The email lakes were sufficiently frozen over.for us 

to walk upon them. As we advanced westward the aspect of the 

try became more dreary, and the primitive features more boldly 

ed. Pointed mountains, of co.irsc red granite, standing apart, 



45 

lay in all directions northerly and southerly of eaoh other. Most of 
them are partially shrouded with firs, bald, and capped with snow. 
As we neared the south end of an extensive lake in order to get round 
it, we observed a low islet near the middle entirely covered with a 
larfre species of gull. Those birds seemed as if they had congregated 
to take flight -before the lake was frozen over. I named this lake in 
honor of a friend at the bar in Edinburgh, " Wilson's lake." At the 
extreme south end we had to ford a rapid river of considerable size, 
running to the southward, which, from its position t we inferred was 
" Little River," and which discharges at the south-coast. 

October 29<h — Drawing near to a mountain ridge, higher than any 
we had yet crossed, and which from.appearance we supposed might 
be the last between us and the sea coast, we had great satisfaction in 
discovering smoke rising from a wood on the opposite side of a lake 
near the foot of it. We indulged in the hope that some timber party 
from the settlements at St George's Bay was encamped here. Our 
toils were in fancy ended ; on reaching the lake, the party encamped 
seemed to distrust us, not venturing to show themselves openly on the 
shore. After a time, however, they were convinced by our appear- 
ance, gestures, and the report of our guns, that we were not Red In- 
dians nor enemies. A canoe was then launched and came across to 
us. The canoe was of the kind already described, of wicker-work, 
covered with ski^s, and paddled by two pretty Indian girls. I un- 
ceremoneously saluted them in the Indian manner, and we accompa- 
nied them to their camp. They were of a party of mickmack Indians, 
encamped at this lake because deer and firewood were plentiful. One 
man only belonged to this encampment, and he' was out hunting 
when we arrived. None of the party understood a word of English ; 
my Indian however explained. They told us, to our no little morti- 
fication that we were yet sixty miles from St. George's Harbor, or 
about five days walk if the weather should happen to be favorable, 
and that it lay in a north-west direction. The last information prov- 
ed that my Indian had of late pertiuaciously insisted on a wrong 
course. This small party consisted of eight individuals — one man, 
four women, and three children : one, an infant, was strapped or 
laced to its cradle and placed upright against the side of a wigwam 
as any piece of domestic furniture might be. They had left St. 
George's Harbor three months before ; since then in the interior, and 
intended to spend the winter at Great Cod Roy River in St. George's 
Ray. As every hour was preoious towards the final accomplishment 



46 

of my object, I proposed to my Iadian host to accompany me to St. 
George's Bay— my offer was agreed to, and a stipulation made to set 
off m two hours. In the absence of this Indian, who told me his 
name was Gabriel, his family consisting, as already observed, of fe- 
males and children, were to provide for themselves. For this pur- 
pose two guns and ammunition were left with them. One of the young 
women was a capital shot, during our hault with them she left the 
camp and shot a fat deer close by. Having partaken of the best piece 
of venison the interior could produce, together with smoked deers* 
tongues, we set off. Owing to our enfeebled condition, this man's vi- 
gour and strength were enviable. 

October ZS>th. — Rain, snow, and wind, in the early part of the day 
compelled us to stop and encamp. We shot a hare, the first we had 
killed — it was white, except the tips ot the ears and tip of the tail, 
which always remain black. The hare of Newfoundland is the Arctic 
hare, Lepus Arcticus. It sometimes weighs fourteen pounds and up- 
wards. There is no other kind in the Island. The grouse, during 
severe snow storms at night, allow the snow to drift over them, and 
thus covered, obtain shelter. While in this situation a silver thaw 
sometimes comes on, and the incrustation on the surface become too 
thick for them to break through in the morning, end immense num- 
berc of them perish by being in that manner enclosed. When we 
were crossing a lake on the ice, my Indian feft" through and with great 
exertion saved himself. While he was struggling my new friend ; 
Gabriel, stood still and laughed. Joe did not look for assistance, no' 
did the other evince the least disposition to render any, although h< 
was, compared with my position on the lake, near to him. Upoi 
my remonstrating with Grabriel about his manifesting a want of feel- 
ing towards Joe, when perishing, Joe himself replied to me, " master, 
it is all right ; Indian rather die than live owing his life to another.' 
The other had action in sympathy with the self-dependent sentiment. 
October olst — We travelled over hills and across lakes about 
twenty miles, fording in that space two rivers running north-easterly, 
and which are the main source branches of the river Exploits. This 
large river has therefore a course ot upwards of two hundred miles in 
one direction, taking its rise in the south-west angle of the Island, 
and discharging at the north-east part. The Indians are all excellent 
shots, and the two men now with me displayed admirable skill in 
killing the deer at great distances and a,t full speed, with single ball. 
Nearly a foot of snow had recently fallen,which casta monotonous sub- 
limity over the whole country, and in a great measure concealed the 



47 
characteristics of the vegetable a9 well as the mineral kingdoms. We en- 
camped at night at the southern extremity of what is said by my Indians 
to be the most southern lake of the interior frequented by the Red In- 
dians, and through which was the main source branch of the River Ex- 
ploits. At the same lake, the mickmacs and the Indians friendly with 
them commence and terminate their water excursions from and to the 
west coast. They here construct their first skin canoes upon entering 
the interior, or leave their old ones upon setting off on foot for the 
sea coast. The distance to St. George's Harbor is twenty-five miles 
or upwards, which part of the journey must be performed on foot, 
because no waters of any magnitude intervene. I named the lake in 
honor of His Majesty George the IV. 

November 1st. — For nearly twenty miles westward of George the 
Fourth's lake, the country is very bare, there being scarcely a thicket 
of wood. During this day we forded two rapid rivulets running south- 
west to St. George's Bay. Deer had hitherto passed us in innumer- 
able straggling herds. But westwarl of George the Fourth's lake, and 
particularly as we neared the coast, very few were to be seen. While 
asoending a mountain, I felt myself suddenly overcome with a kind 
of delirium, arising I supposed from exhaustion and excessive exertion, 
but fancied myself stronger than ever I was in my life. It is proba- 
ble, under that influence, that if the Indian who last joined had not 
been present, I would have had a rencontre with my other Indian. 

PART VIII. 
West Coast, 
la the evening (1st November) about eighteen milest west of George 
the Fourth's lake, from the summit ofa snowy ridge which defiues the 
west coast, we were rejoiced to get a view of the expansive ocean and 
St. George's Harbor. Had this prospect burst upon us in the same 
manner a month earlier, it would have created in my mind a thousaod 
pleasures, the impression of which I was now too callous to receive ; 
all was now however accomplished, and I hailed the glance of tho 
sea as home, and as the parent of everything dear. There was scarce- 
ly any snow to be seen within several miles of tho sea coast, while 
the mountain range upon which we stood, and the interior in the rear, 
were covered. This range may be about two thousand feet above the 
level of the sea, and the snow-capped mountains in the north-east are 
higher. The descent was now very precipitous and craggy. A rapid 
river called Flat Bay River, across which we were to ford, or if 
swollen, to pass ovor upon a raft, fl v v\cd at the foot of the ridge. It 



*8 

threatened rain, and the sua was setting; but the sight of the sea 
urged us onward. By sliding down rill courses, and travcrisng the 
steeps, we found ourselves with whole hones, but many bruises, at the 
bottom, by one o'clock on the following morning. We then, by means 
of carrying a large stone each on our backs in order to press our feet 
against the bottom, and steadying ourselves by placing one end of a 
pole, as with a staff or walking-stick, firmly upon the bottom on the 
lawn or lee side, to prevent the current from sweeping us away, step 
after step, succeeded in fording the river, and encamped by a good 
fire, but supperless, in the forest on the banks of the river. 

November 2nd. — Upon the immediate banks of Flat Bay River, 
there is some good birch, pine, and spruce timber. The soil and shel- 
ter are even as good here, that the ground sprucefTaxus Canadensis) 
bearing its red berries, constitutes the chief underwood, as in the for- 
ests of Canada aud Nova Scotia. In the afternoon we reached St. 
George's harbor. The first houses we reached, two in number, close 
to the shore, belonged to Indians. They were nailed up, the owners 
not having yet returned from the interior after their fall's hunting. 
The houses of the European residents lay on the west side of the har- 
bor, which is here about a mile wide, and near the entrance ; but a 
Westerly gale of wind prevented any intercourse across. Having had 
no food for nearly two days, we ventured to break open the door of 
one of the houses, — the captain or chief's, as we understood from my 
last Indian, and found what we wanted — provisions and cooking 
utensils. The winter stock of provisions of this provident man, named 
Emanuel Grontgont, the whole having been provided at the proper 
seasons, consisted ef six barrels of pickled fisb, of different kinds, viz, 
young halibuts and eels, besides dried cod fish, seal oil in bladders, 
and two barrels of maize or Indian corn flour. 

November 3rd. — We werestill storm-stayed in the Indian house, 
in the midst of plenty. It seemed remarkable that . the provisions 
were entirely free from the ravages of rats and other vermin, altho' 
left without any precaution to guard against such. There wa3 a pota- 
to and turnip field close to the houFe, with the crops still in the 
ground, of which we availed ourselves, although now partly injured 
by i'rest. 

November 4.1k. — A party of Indians arrived from the interior,maIo 
and female, each carrying a load of furs. Our landlord was amongst 
them. Instead of appearing to notice with displeasure his door broken 
opoa and house occupied by strangers, he merely said, upon looking 



49 

round and my offering an explanation, " Suppose me her6, you take 
all these things." 

We crossed the harbor, and were received by the residents — Jersey 
and English, and their descendants, with open arms. All European 
and other vessels had left this coast a month before, so that there was 
no chance of my obtaining a passage to St. John's, or to another 
country. There were too many risks attending the sending to sea any 
of the vessels here, at this season, although I offered a considerable 
sum to the owners of any of them that would convey me to Fortune 
Bay on the south coast, from whence I might obtain a passage to 
Europe by some of the ships that had probably not yet sailed from 
the mercantile establishments there. 

After a few days I parted with my Indians — the one, who had with 
painful constancy accompanied me across the Island, joining his ooun- 
trymen here to spend the winter with them and return to his friends 
at the Bay of Despair in the following spring ; the other, having re- 
newed his stock of ammunition and other outfits, returned to his fa. 
mily which we had left in the interior. Having now crossed the Is- 
land, I cannot help thinking that my success was in part owing to the 
smallness of my party. Many together could not so easily have sus- 
tained themselves ; they would have multiplied the chances of casu- 
alties, and thereby of the requisition of the attendance and detention 
of the able. It is difficult to give an idea of, or to form an estimate 
equivalent to the road-distance gone over. The toil and deprivations 
were such that hired men, or followers of any class, would not have 
endured them. At St. George's Bay, as at all other parts of New- 
foundland except the towns, the couutry is nearly as destitute of paths 
and roads as at the time of the discovery of the Island ; the inter- 
course between the settlements being by water, during bad weather is 
entirely suspended. I remained at St. George's Bay Harbor under 
the hospitable roof of Mr. Phillip Messervey, the principal inhabi- 
tant, to rest and recover from the fatigues and deprivations of my Jour- 
ney, and from a hurt received while descending the mountains 
to the coast. At St. George's Harbor there are about twenty fami- 
lies, amounting to one hundred souls, most of the parents natives of 
England and Jersey. Their chief occupation is salmon fishing and 
furring ; a little cod fish is also cured. They catch annually three or 
four hundred barrels of salmon according to the success of the fishery, 
and procure fur, including what is obtained from the Indians by bar- 
ter, to the value of nearly four hundred pounds. They possess four 
Bchooners, three of them boing built by themselves, and one by the 



50 

Indians, in which most of the male inhabitants make one voyage an- 
nually, either to Halifax, Nova Scotia, or to St. John's, Newfoundland, 
to dispose of their fish and fur. Some of them barter their produce 
with trading vessels from Canada and New Brunswick, or with the 
vessels of any other country that may come to the coast, receiving 
provisions and West Indian produce. They all cultivate potatoes, 
and some keep a few cows. The harbor is six or seven miles in length. 
On the east-side the soil is good ; red, white, and blue clays are 
found here. Along the banks of the several rivers which flow into 
the harbor, are strips of good land ; some good pine spars and birch 
timber fit for ship-building are also to be found there. The young 
black birch, as far as my observation went, is called here the " witch 
hazel." St. George's Harbor, although barred, may be entered by 
vessels of any burthen. There is no other ship harbor between Cape 
Cape Ray and Port a Port ; but there is good anchorage in the road- 
stead between Cod Roy Island and the main Island near Cape An- 
guillo. None of the other harbors can be entered even by small craft 
when the wind blows strong westwardly. The trade and pursuits of 
the inhabitants of the other parts of St. George's Bay, and it may be 
observed, of all the other parts of the French Shore, are very similar 
to those of the other parts of St. George's Harbor. To the south- 
ward, at what is called here the Barasways, seven or eight families, 
amounting to nearly sixty souls, who catch annually, from 150 to 
200 barrels salmon, and obtain fur to the value of one hundred 
pounds. They have one schooner which carries most of their produce 
to St. John's, Newfoundland, or to Halifax, Nova Scotia ; they bar- 
tering a part with trading vessels at Cod Roy, and at the Great an-i 
Little Cod Roy rivers, towards the southern extremity of St. George's 
Bay ; there are twelve or fourteen families, amounting to seventy or 
eighty souls, who catch annually four or fiVe cwts. of cod fish, about 
fifty barrels of salmon, and obtain a little fur. The salmon fishery of 
St. George's Bay, under which head are included, with few excep- 
tions, all the able men are in summer divided into about thirty fish- 
ing crews of two or three men each, with boats and nets, and occupy 
the salmon fishery at the shores and rivers all over the bay. At tho 
Bay of Islands, north of St. George's Bay, there are six — and at 
Bonne Bay, still farther north, there are several families ; north of 
that, on the west coast, there are no inhabitants. At the north-east 
part of the French Shore, between Quirpon Island and Capo John, 
there are a few stray settlers, whoso value cannot be reckoned upon ( 
iurihei than that their occupations arc in aid of the French fisheries. 



51 

Taking an aggregate view of the French Shore, there are resident 
upon it upwards of fifty British families, consisting of about three 
hundred souls, who catch annually nearly seven hundred barrels of 
salmon ; fur, to the value of six hundred pounds ; cod fish and her- 
rings, four hundred pounds ; making, together with the shipping built, 
the total value of the exports of the British residents on the French 
Shore, £2,400 or £2,500. The usual mode of paying servants on 
the west coast is, allowing them one-third of the fruits of their in- 
dustry, salmon, fur, or otherwise, the employer providing diet. The 
principle is well worthy of imitation on the east coast. St. George's 
Harbor, locally called Flat Bay, as well as the estuaries of all the 
rivers on the west coast, is famous for abundance of eels. The In- 
dians take them in great quantities by spearing in the mud, and 
pickle them for winter use. If there was a market, they might be, 
as indeed they have to a limited extent, exported. The French Shore 
of Newfoundland is one of the most valuable in the globe for fisher- 
ies. At this day it is nearly in a primitive state, although in sum- 
mer occupied by hundreds of French ships which send forth their 
thousands ot batteaux and men brought from France, all eager in 
the pursuit; of the cod fishery. Mackerel might be taken at St. 
George's Bay in any quantity, in the fall of the year only, but none 
are caught now. This fishery, were it pursued, would succeed that of 
the salmon in the order of season, and the process of curing is simi- 
lar. Herrings might likewise be caught to supply and suit any de- 
mand and market, as they are of all sizes. Whale and seal also 
abound in their respective .seasons, but none are killed. The British 
residents on the French shore feel very insecure in the enjoyment, of 
their Salmon fishery and in any extension of their property, by rea- 
son of the peculiar tenure in regard to the French. A satisfactory 
solution of the mystery as to their rights, has not yet been communi- 
cated to them, although they have made repeated applications at head 
quarters at St. John's. But the French are at present friendly dis^ 
posed to them, although their rights treated as a mere sufferance. 
There is here neither clergyman, school-master, church nor chapel. 
Yet during my short stay, there was one wedding (an Indian couple, 
Boman Catholics, married by a Protestant resident, reading the 
Church of England service from a French translation), and four chris- 
tenings, celebrated by the same person, with feasts and rejoiciugs suit- 
able to such events. 

November 16th. — Being now much recovered by tho various at- 
tions at St. George's Harbor during my stay often days, I set out 



52 

en foot to the southward along the sea shore, accompanied by two of 
the young Jersey residents, in hopes, by walking and boating,to reach 
Fortune Bay, a distance of upwards of two hundred miles, before all 
the ressels for the season had sailed for Europe. We slept, as in- 
tended, in a deserted salmon fisher's hut on the shore, being unable 
to reach any habitation. 

November 11th. — We forded the mouths of several minor streams, 
and that of the north of third Barasway river, it having no harbor at 
its estuary. In the evening, reaohed the second Barasway river, a 
distance of twenty-four miles from St. George's Harbor, and where 
reside the nearest inhabitants. Our walk all the way was on a sandy 
rocky beach at the bottom of oliffs washed by the sea. The cliffs are 
formed chiefly of red sand-stone, red ochre, blue clay, and gypsum, 
sixty or seventy feet and upwards in height, with a deep bed of red 
alluvial earth everywhere superimposed. The gypsum is of the com" 
pact kind, with hard nodules throughout; the beds extend into the sea, 
in which stand water- worn projections, sometimes of grotesque forms. 
A few miles north of the Barasway rivers, there is a vertical stratum 
of a dark green-colored rock, resembling verde Antique running thro' 
the gypsum deposite, owing to the great hardness and durability of 
of which its entering resembles a wall running into the sea. Gypsum 
also abounds inland, thus at the .Rattling Brook, Flat Bay River,&o. 
In the immediate vicinity of the Barasway rivers, as well as else- 
where in St. George's bay, there are both sulphurous and saline 
springs. One of the former, strongly saturated, occurs near the sea 
shore about a mile north of the second Barasway river ; another is 
said to exist about seven miles from the sea up the Rattling Brook, 
which runs into the sea, a short distance north of the second Baras-. 
Tray-river. Ofthe saline springs, one is situated about two miles up 
the second Barasway ; another up the Ptattling Brook ; and a third 
is said to be on ihe neck of land at Port a Port, westward of Fall 
Mount. Coal of excellent quality lies exposed in strata in the bed 
Mid banks of a rivulet between the first and second Barasway rivers, 
about seven and nine miles from its mouth. The harbor at the mouth 
of the second harasway river, as well as that of the first, is barred, 
hating only eight or nine feet of water on the bows at high tides. The 
vicinity oi the Barasway rivers as of all the river courses in New- 
foundland, is an interesting and untrodden field for the geologist, and 
tor the naturalist generally. The inhabitants at the Barasway rivers 
were now in their winter houses under the shelter of the woods, hav- 
ing recently left their rummer residences at ihe shore. Like the peo- 



pie at St. George's Harbor, they are industrious and frugal ; the extent 
of their salmon fishery and furring has been already noticed. The fol- 
lowinganimals are entrapped and shot here for their furs : — martins, 
foxes, otters, beavers, musk rats, bears, wolves, and hares. Although 
ermines are numerous, the inhabitants do not preserve their skins, be- 
cause they are small, their value not being known. Some of the resi- 
dents have well-stocked farms, the soil being good. Oats, barley, 
potatoes, hay, &c, are produced in perfection, and even wheat. On 
evidence of the capabilities of portions of Newfoundland for agricul- 
tural purposes, notice must be taken of the farm of my hostess, Mrs. 
Huilan, at the second Barasway river. The stock on it consisted of 
six milch cows, besides other cattle ; the dairy could not be surpass- 
ed in neatness and cleanliness, and the butter and cheese were excel- 
lent ; the butter made exclusive of what was kept for her compara- 
tively numerous domestic establishment, was sold, part to the resi- 
dents at other places in the bay, and part to trading vessels that come 
to the coast in summer. The cellar was full of potatoes and other 
vegetables for winter use. She was also an experimental farmer, and 
exhibited eight different kinds of potatoes, all possessing different 
qualities to recommend them. Of domestic poultry there was an 
ample stock. Mrs. Huilan, although not a native, had lived in St. 
George's Bay upwards of sixty years, and remembers the celebrated 
navigator, Cook, when he surveyed the coast. She is inde- 
fatigably industrious and useful, and immediately or remotely related 
to or connected with the whole population of the bay, over whom she 
commands a remarkable degree of maternal influence and respect. 
The coast southward from hence to Cod Roy, a distance of upwards of 
thirty miles, and where the nearest inhabitants in that directions were, 
was too rugged and bold to admit of our walking along the shore. The 
inhabitants here, or at St. George's Harbor, were ready to exert them- 
selves to get me forward. A forced march, which might occupy ten 
days over a snow-covered mountainous country in the rear of tho 
coast had few attractions just now, and' on 

November l$tk, the weather proving favourable, two young men 
of Mrs. Huilan's establishment launched forth with me in a small 
skiff to row and sail close along the shore, as wind and weather might 
permit. My kind hostess, aware of the probable detention we might 
meet, provisioned the little bark for two days. 

November 20th, 2l$t, and 22nd. — While passing in a boat, the 
formation only, of the coast, could be viewed, not examined. Be- 
tween the south Barasway river and Cod Roy the coast is a conti- 



54 

nued range of cliffy along which tbero is neither harbor nor shelter 
of any kind for even a boat. A light skiff or punt is therefore the 
safest mode of conveyance along this horrific coast in the inclement 
season of the year ; for here and there between the cliff there is a 
spot of beach with a ravine well known to the inhabitants, at which, 
although far apart in the event of being overtaken by bad weather, a 
skiff can be run on shore, and the crew at the same instant jumping 
out haul her up beyond the reach of the surf. This we were forced 
to do several times, and to clamber to the top of the cliffs until the 
weather moderated. The cliffs to within three miles north of Cape 
Anguille, are formed chiefly of old, red, and variagated sand- stone, 
and sandstone of the coal formation. Then at a narrow opening called 
Snake's Bight, another formation succeeds, and from thence south- 
ward to Cape Anguille ; the coast is principally formed of dark blu- 
ish stratified rocks with an inclination of about thirty degrees. Beds 
of narrow strata of a red rock presenting a series of stripes to the sea 
alternate. This latter portion of the coast has many irregularities 
and shifting in the strata, and single vertical strata of a reddish 
brown rock, seemingly trap or green-stone, pervade it in different di- 
rections, sometimes presenting an extensive smooth mural front to 
the sea. 

November 23rd. — We doubled Cape Anguille, and reached Cod 
Hoy. Cape Anguille seems to be formed of quartz rock in front and 
granite in the rear, it being a projection of the granitic rid^e that de- 
fines the west coast. Cod Hoy, and here there is an island of the 
same name, is close to Cape Anguilla on the south. The inhabitants, 
as at the Barrasway rivers, were in their winter houses in the woods, 
and their boats laid up for the winter. I however soon obtained a 
volunteer in the principal resident named Parsons, to convey me as 
soon as the weather would permit in his skiff round Cape Ray, and to 
the next place where a boat could be procured. Owing to the shelter 
and anchorage for shipping at Cod Roy, as already noticed, and to its 
immediate proximity to the fine fishing grounds about Cape Ray, it is 
the central point of the French fisheries in summer. Many square 
rigged vessels are here loaded with dried cod fish for France ; and 
hundreds of battaux brought from France in the fishing ship9, soatter 
Irom hence in all directions over the fishing grounds. There are 
here five resident families. Gypsum abounds at Cod Roy. 

November 28 th. — Having waited at Cod Roy five days in vain for 
an abatement of the strong north-west wind to permit of our putting 
to sea in a skiff, I set out with Parsons on foot to the southward by 



55 
the sea shore/ Great Cod Roy River is about six miles south of Cod 
Roy Island. We crossed the gut or entrance between the sea and 
the expensive shallow estuary of this river, in a boat of one oi the re- 
sidents. The entrance is barred with sand, and has only about six 
feet of water. There reside here five families with their servants, 
amounting to twenty-eight souls. They catch about forty barrels of 
salmon, annually, which, with herring, and a trifling cod fishery, are 
their chief means of subsistence. Coal is found on the south bank of 
Great Cod Roy river, six or seven miles from the sea. The land be- 
tween Cod Roy and where the coal occurs is low and flat ; so that in 
the event of the coal being raised, it could be conveyed by means of 
a railroad from the mines to the shipping. There were at this time 
ten Indian families encamped for the winter on the banks of Great 
Cod Roy River about ten miles from its mouth. The chief attraction 
for the Indian here is the abundance of eels and trouts. Little Cod 
Roy river is about six miles south of that of Great Cod Roy, and has 
also a gut at its estuary, which we in like manner crossed in a boat. 
Its entrance is likewise barred, and has only three or four feet of 
-water ; but forms, like Great Cod Roy river, an expansive harbor in- 
side. There are here two resident families only amounting to, with 
servants, seventeen souls. They exist by furring, and a small 
cod fishery, the quantity of salmon caught being very trifling. Both 
the Great and Little Cod Roy rivers have their friths protected from 
the sea by sand hills or downs. The residents of Cod Roy and at 
these rivers, with the exception of Parsons and one or two others re- 
cently settled there for the sake of the cod fishery, are extremely in- 
dolent and ignorant, differing in the^se respects from the rest of the 
inhabitants of St. George's Bay. The extent of their salmon and cod 
fisheries, and of their furring, was noticed when speaking of the oc- 
cupation collectively, of the inhabitants of St. George's Ray. The 
coast between Cod Roy and Great Cod Roy river is formed chiefly of 
mural cliffs of horizontally stratified sand-stone of the coal formation, 
with alternations of red earth, blue clay, and gypsum. From Cod 
Roy river to Cape Ray, it presents downs to the sea. The downs 
near the sea shore are raised into hillocks, and in the rear they are 
level. In the vicinity of Cod Roy there are also downs, and here are 
numerous funnel-shaped hollows, somo of them twenty yards wide 
across the mouth and many yards deep. Most of these hollows are 
dry ; they are caused, as is known to geologists, by fresh water spriugs 
dissolving the beds of rook salt and gypsum underneath, and to th« 
earth, sand, and other superimposed substances thus falliug in. They 



56 

sometimes assume the shape of an inverted funnel, having a small ap- 
erture only at the surface, and a hole below. Cattle have fallen 
into the latUr description and been lost. The sand composing the 
downs is of a yellow white color, with minute sheila of various kinds 
and minute radiated brown pyrites abundantly intermixed. They pro- 
duce only sand-hill grass, Cares Arenaria, and the sea pea or vetch, 
Pisum Maritinium. 

The soil in St. George's Bay is the best,and at the same time forms 
the most extensive tract of good soil aay where on the coast of New- 
founland. It is a low flat stripe nearly the whole length of the Bay, 
lying between the sea shore and the mountains in the rear, interrupted 
only by Cape Anguille, which juts into the sea. It seldom exceeds 
two miles in breadth except at the Rivers, and there it extends many 
miles up the country along the banks. The granite mountains be- 
hind appear generally clad with firs, except along the summits, which 
are bare. Iron Pyrites of various forms occur in abundance on 
the West Coarst, particularly at " Port a Port'* and that neighbour- 
hood. They are generally of the radiated and kidney-shaped struc- 
ture encrusted with a white earthy substance. Some of them weigh 
several pounds, and many of them have garnets embedded. Pure 
horn-blende rock in large masses, some four or five feet in diameter,is 
met with at the Cod Roy Rivers ; coal is reported to exist at other 
places on this coast, besides being at the Barasway and Cod Roy Ri- 
vers. The Indians say it lies exposed in suoh abundance on the sur- 
face of the earth near the mouth of a brook on the west side of Port 
a Port that they have made fires of it on the spot ; and this is an 
excellent harbor for shipping. *Verde Antique, of a dark green co- 
lour, spotted or mottled with white, is found at the north of Port a 
Port on the bed of what is called the Coal River — a few miles from 
the sea, and brought down in pieces by the Indians for the manufac- 
ture of Tobacco Pipes. The natural productions of the West Coast 
viewed in relation to the neighbouring countries,are well deserving the 
attention of Canada in particular. Coal and the other valuable mine- 
rals are here in abundance, and may be considered at the very thresh- 
old of that country by means of steam navigation, to the extension 
and support of which that material so directly contributes. Iron is 
probably to be found in more profitable forms than pyrites. By 
means of steam ships, the countries bounding on the Gulf and 
River St. Lawrence could defy foreign aggression and command an 
extension of commerce, 



57 
hovdnoer 29M. — Cape Hay. — Having slept the previous night in 
the winter house of one of the families at Little Cod Roy river, we 
to-day walked round Cape Kay, here leaving the French Shore and 
entering upon American Newfoundland, or that division of the coast 
on which the Americans have a right of fishing and of drying their 
fish. On the shore north of Cape Ray lay several wrecks of ships 
and their cargoes of timber. Cape Ray is a low point formed of 
dusty coloured trap rock intersected in some places with vertical stra- 
ta of green trap running in an east and west direction. The coal for- 
matioii of St. George's Bay adjoins. On the very Cape there resides 
during summer a person of the name of Wm. Windsor, with his fami- 
ly. We found him in his winter hut in a spruce wood two or three 
miles to the eastward of the Cape. The most perfect contentment, 
cheerfulness, poverty, and hospitality were the characteristics of the 
monarch of Cape Ray. His resources, through the means of fishing, 
enabled him to procure a sufficiency of ooarse biscuit, molasses, and 
tea, by which, together with fowling, he supported his family. He 
wore no covering on his head, even when exposed to the inclement 
weather. Nature, aided doubtless by habit, providing him with an 
extraordinary mat of hair, as she does the inferior animals here with 
fur. The high lands of Cape Ray lie several miles inland, 
north-east of the Cape, and consist of a group of granite mountains 
seemingly uearly two thousand feet in height. The scenery among 
them is sublime ; the steep sides of the wedge-shaped valleys appear 
Bmooth and striped at a distance, owing to the crumbled rocks and 
blocks detached by frost, being hurled from the very summits to the 
bottom, where they lie in heaps of ruins. I had reluctantly to be- 
hold only the treasures laid open to the mineralogist. Snow and ica 
lie in beds on these mountains all the summer. The vicinity of Cape 
Ray is remarkable for great numbers of foxes, induced here by the 
abundance of their chief food, viz., the berries of the vaccirum or par- 
tridge berry and that of the vacciniura or hurtle berry. We were 
several days storm-staid by winds and snow, and the inefficiency of 
the ice to bear us across tho rivulets, at a boat harbor culled the Bar- 
asway, six or seven miles east of the Cape. Tho person in whose 
winter house we here stopped, his summer residence being at Portau 
Basque at the eastward, had now entrapped and shot about eighty 
foxes, black, silver gray, patch, and rod, in less than two months ; 
all those colours are produced at one litter. The foxes are mostly 
caught in iron-spring traps artfully concealed (nut bated) in tho path- 
ways along the seashore. It may be noticed that ou the w 



58 

Newfoundland, there is neither Scotchman, Irishman, nor rat to be 
met with ; nor, it is said, has any member of these European families 
taken up an abode west of Fortune Bay. 
- PART IX. 
American portion of Newfoundland. 
December blh. — Port au Basque, the nearest harbor to Cape Ray on 
the east, about twelve miles distant therefrom, we reached by boat 
from the Barasway. It had a fine open entrance, and good anchor- 
age, and is sufficiently capacious for any number of ships to ride in 
safety. The rendezvous for fishing vessels, small craft and boats, is 
a long narrow passage, immediately adjoining the west side of the 
harbor, formed by a chain of Islands which lie elose along the coast, 
and is called Chaunel. Four families reside here during the sum- 
mer pursuing the cod fishery at that season, and the furring in winter 
A small safe basin called Little Bay, with a narrow entrance adjoins 
Port au Basque immediately on the east. There are no summer re- 
sidences here ; but two persons engaged in the cod fishery at the Dead 
Islands in summer, were encamped in the woods for the winter .They 
undertook to convey me in their little skiff to dead Island, the next 
harbor to the east ; and in consequence I here parted with my faith- 
ful and daring attendant, Parsons, from Cod Roy. 

December 7th. — Dead Island. — Reached this place from Little 
Bay. The harbor here called Pass, is fit for any ships, and like Chan- 
nel, is a narrow passage between a string of Islands and the main Is- 
land. Port au Basque and Channel, and the] Dead Island or Pass 
are both excellent stations at which to carry on the American fisheries. 
The fishing grounds in the vicinity of Cape Ray^are probably the 
best on the Newfoundland coast for the resort of fishermen from a 
distance, they being peculiar in this important point, lhat the cod are 
always to be found in abundance upon them, and caught at all soa- 
sons when the weather is not too boisterous, and then the neighbour- 
ing harbors mentioned, afford shelter to the fishing craft. The fishery 
may be commenced here six weeks or a month earlier than at any 
other part of the coast, and continued in the fall of the year until 
Christmas. Many industrious fishermen* within a hundred miles east- 
ward do not leave these grounds until the end of December. The cod 
oaught in October, November, and December is called winter fish. At 
Fortune Bay to the eastward, on the same coast, winter fifth ir< caught 
by meana of the smaller boats Ln the month of January, February, 
and March, in deep water close to the shores. The winter-caught fish 



59 

is of a better quality than that taken at any other reason. It is al- 
lowed to remain in dry salt during the winter, and dried in the first 
warm weather in spring; being then sent to a foreign market, it ar- 
rives at an early season of the year, when there is no other newly- 
eured fish to compete, and brings fifty percent, or upwards more than 
the fish dried in the preceding year. There is no winter fish caught 
at Newfoundland except at the south-west coast. At the Dead Is- 
lands three families reside in summer, whose chief pursuit is the cod 
fishery. These Islands are composed chiefly of mica slate. I was 
here fortunate in finding a very respectable industrious inhabitant 
named Thomas Harvey, still occupying his summer house attheshore^ 
and his fishing boat or shallop not yet dismantled for the winter. Al- 
though no ordinary remuneration was equivalent to the risk at thia 
inolement season on so dangerous a coast, Harvey unhesitatingly man- 
ned and provisioned his boat to enable rae to reach Fortune Bay. 

It would have been impossible without the probability of being ei«. 
ther frozen or starved to walk along this coast at this season of the 
year, it is so indented with deep bays and rivers, and in a manner un- 
inhabited and unexplored. 

December &th.— We set sail from the Dead Islands, passed by a 
harbor called Burnt Island, where reside two families who pursue the 
cod fishery. The weather being stormy, we were forced afterwards 
to put into the Seal Island, some fifteen miles to the eastward ; Seal 
Island is a fine safe harbor with two entrances, one east another west. 
There is one resident family only here, seemingly in good circum- 
stances by means of the cod fishery. The prevailing rock here is -mica 
slate. 

December ilth. — Strong winds and snow had compelled us to re- 
main all night at Seal Island. We now got under weigh, with a 
fair wind, cheerfully passing by " Harbor le Cou" uninhabited , 
Garia, with one resident family in summer ; Indian Island, with one 
resident family ; LaPoile, a noble deep bay with two resident fami- 
lies ; and reach Grand Bit, a good little harbor with two entrances 
the west being the better, and where reside two families in summer, 
whose habitations were now locked up and deserted. 

December \1th. — Set sail, and reached Cingserf, a good harbor 
for vessels of any size ; the best anchorage is on the east side — within 
the harbor there are many small inlets. It has no summer residents, 
nor could we discover any signs of winter occupauts. Trap rock pre- 
vails here. 



60 

Decemler loth. — Having passed the night at Cingserf, we set off 
again with a fair wind ; touch at and pass through amongst the Bui> 
geo Islands, Here is a sheltered roadstead with good anchorage. At 
Burgeo Islands there are eleven or twelve, and in the vicinity, five or 
six resident families. Burgeo Islands are formed of gray granite, and 
very barren. The part of the main Island opposite to them, as well 
as that for some miles westward, present steep and perpendicular 
cliffs of old red sandstone to the sea. In the evening we reached the 
Rameo Islands, the east extremity of that portion of the Newfound- 
land coast at which the Americans have a right of fishing and of cu- 
ring fish. There are only two resident families here. The Ameri- 
cans have, by the treaty of Ghent a right of fishing and curing their 
fish in common with British subjects, on the coast between Cape Ray 
and the Rameo Islands, an extent of about seventy-five miles. This 
portion of the coast, although possessing many fine harbors besides 
those noticed here, contains scarcely forty resident families, or two 
hundred and fifty souls on the whole of it. The chief pursuits of these 
people are the cod fishery in summer, and entrapping foxes and other 
wild animals for their skins in the fall. The salmon fishery is a very 
Elinor object, as the rivera are not so large nor numerous as on the 
west coast. The fishermen, or planters as they are called, obtain their 
outfits to enable them to carry on the fisheries, from the merchants at 
Fortune Bay. They annually catch about three thousand cwts. or 
quintals or upwards of cod fish, make about forty-five tuns cod oil* 
and obtain fur to the value of one hundred pounds. The approach to 
many ot the fine harbors here is dangerous from the want of surveys 
of the outer coast. Thousands of valuable lives have been lost by 
shipwreck, particularly to the eastward of Cape Ray, in consequence 
of most dangerous currents and sunken rocks that exist here, being 
unnoticed upon any chart, and until the colonists themselves take up 
the cause of humanity, it is not likely these dangers will for a long 
time be made known or a light house erected on the coast. The re- 
sidents here, as at St. George's Bay, and at most of the north and 
west harbors of the Island, have both summer and winter houses. 
They retire to the residences or huts in the woods on the setting in of 
the winter, tor facility of firewood and shelter ; the labor attending 
the conveyance of fuel to their summer residences at the shore, which 
exposed to every inclemency of the weather, being very great, 
y sometir. s remove to a distance of thirty miles and even father 
to ll ^equrf ered woods at the heads of bays and harbors, and on 
^r, rivers, taking with them their boat? furniture, and p r o- 



61 
visions, and re-appear at the coast in the month of April. The habits 
and imperative performances ot the beaver for preservation of self 
and kind, are at least equally perfect with those of the European set- 
tlers or Indians on the coast. Each have their summer and winter 
abodes, and respectively provide for their retirement, &o. Sea fowl 
and birds of passage resort to the south-west coast in great numbers 
in the fall of the year ; and during that season,; as well as in winter, 
constitute a considerable portion of the provisions of the inhabitants. 
The dogs here are admirably trained as retrievers in fowling, and are 
otherwise useful. The smooth or short-haired dog is preferred, be- 
cause in frosty weather the long-haired kind become encumbered 
with ice upon coming out of the water. They are fed on fish, pur- 
posely cured for thena. The Leap Cervier, a common animal in all 
the adjacent countries is not considered to be a native of Newfound- 
land, although one was^ caught last year in LaPoile Bay, and 
another killed in the same neighbourhood a few years ago. In 
these instances it is probable that the animals have either crossed or 
been blown over upon the ice from some of the neighbouring countries. 
Neither squirrel, porcupine, or racoon have been met with on the Is- 
land. Penguins were once numerous at this coast, their breeding 
place having been the Penguin Islands, about fifteen miles north- 
east from Rameo Islands. They have been extirpated by man ; none 
having been been for some years past. Hallibutts abound more at 
the south-west coast than elsewhere. The young in the fall, is one 
of the finest fishes on these coasts ; but its excellence seems to be lit- 
tle known except to the fishermen and their families. It may be 

cured in several ways. 

PART X. 

South Coast of Newfoundland— Termination of Journey- 

December 14th. — The coast was now every where clad in its whit* 
winter mantle, and most of the birds of passage had left the shores 
for a more genial climate. Having spent the night at the Raineo Is- 
lands, we set sail eastward, entering now upon the British Newfound- 
land coast. This part may be considered out of the province of the 
present narrative, although, except to the immediate residents, little 
better known than the coast just gone over. The coa?t at the entrances 
of white Bear Bay and Old Man's Bay is formed of trap rocks and 
red sandstone alternating. Pass by Little River, a good harbor ; 
CapeLaHume, where two families reside ; Bay Francois, with three 
resident families ; New Harbor, three resident families ; Rencontre, 



%2 

four families : and reach Richard's Harbor, where several families re- 
side in summer. 

Cape LaHume, as well as the coast thence to Richard's Harbor, is 
formed chiefly of trap rock. Richard 'a Harbor is a complete basin,sar« 
rounded on all sides by steep trap hills, of four hundred feet and up- 
wards in height. The entrance is very narrow and deep ; rocks on 
the west side overhanging to that degree as to render it awful to be- 
hold while passing under. 

December lQth. — Having been wind-bound one day in Richard's 
Harbor, a favouring breeze now carries us to the Bay of Despair, and 
in sight of the whaling and cod fishery establishment of Messrs. 
Newman, Hunt & Co., of London. The few inhabitants, and their 
pursuits,between Rameo and the Bay of Despair, are similar to those 
farther to the westward. The rock formation of the coast between 
Cape Ray and the Bay of Despair may be noticed in a general view 
as follows : Red Sandstone, of the coal formation is found next to the 
trap rock, six or eight miles east of Cape Ray. Then we eome to pri- 
mitive rocks, mica slate, gneis, and granite ; next are trap and old 
red sandstone alternating, which, with the granitic rocks, form the 
coast all the way eastward, presenting little else than most barren and 
precipitous hills half clad with stunted firs, and indented every where 
with harbors, bays, and rivers. Few of the harbors have any soil at 
those parts nearest the sea, there being merely debris in email patches. 
At the head however, of most of the harbors and bays, and along 
the margins of the waters that discharge into them, some good soil 
and spruce timber are to be found, Rock chrystals of different colours 
are stated by the inhabitants to occur in quantities at Harbor le Cou 
and Diamond Cove in that neighbourhood. Several of the inhabi- 
tants possessed transparent specimens ascuriosities. 

Upon reaching the establishment of Messrs. Newoaan & Co , at the 
Bay of Despair, I learnt with satif action, that the last ship for Eng- 
land this season from this coast was to sail within a few days from 
another of their establishments in Fortune Bay. Harvey's boat and 
men now went back to the Dead Islands, but not without apprehension 
on my part for their safety,contending against westerly winds on this 
inhospitable coast at such a season. For while we were coming with 
a fair wind, every drop of water and spray that came into our boat 
congealed as it fell, thus binding together boat, ropes and sails in one 
mass of ice. 

Here ended a four months' excursion oT toil, pleasure, pain, an 
anxiety, succeeded by the delight of being again restored to society, 



68 

which was enjoyed with the gentlemen and families of the morcantiU 
establishments at the Bay of Despair and Fortune Bay. 

It was impossible to reach St. John's, and I took passage at Little 
Bay in Fortune by the ship " Duck," sailing on the 28th December, 
and arrived in Dartmouth, in England, on the 10th February, 1823. 



Register of the "Weather in the Interior from 4th September to 
31st October, 1822. 



September 
4th to 30 " 
inclusive 



; } 



October 31 
days. 



Sept. as above 



Weather of 58 
days 



Winds. 


Bright days 


Rainy days 


Foggy and 
drizzly days 


W.& S.W. 


19 


3 




N.W. 


1 


1 




S. 


2 


1 




22 


5 


W.&.S.W- 


9 


1 


2 


N. W. 


3 






N. 


2 






S. 


2 


2 




S.E. 


2 






E. 






2 


N.E. 


1 






19 


o 


4 




22 


5 






41 

l 


8- 


4 



Snowydays. 



W. E. COEMACK. 



R E M A R K S 

ON PAUT OF 

THE WESTERN SHORE 

®F THIS Iftlfjtffll, 
BY THE SURVEYOR GENERAL. 

AFTEH PERSONAL EXAMINATION IN 1847. 



That portion of the Western Shore of the Island to which the following observations 
are intended to apply, is situate within that extent distinguished as the " French 
Shore," and reaches from the Great Codroy River in latitude 4/T50 North to the Bay 
of Islands in 4'9'15 North. The whole of the country included in this space, as seen 
from seaward presents a very different aspect from the southern and eastern shores — 
the latter exhibits to the eye, on approaching it, nothing hut a low stunted growth of. 
fir or spruce — the former appears clothed to the water's edge with a thick growth of 
the various hinds of hardwood ; and the land generally, in its most prominent fea- 
tures, resembles that on the adjacent Island of Cape Breton. 

The places especially examined by the Surveyor General, -who had the honor in the 
month of July, 1847, of accompanying His Excellency the Governor on a cruise to 
the Western and Southern Shores of the Island, were the following : — 

GREAT CODROY RIVES- 

The entrance to this river is over a sandy bottom, and is narrowed from the projection 
of a sand-bank on the Northern side to a distance not more than two hundred feet. 
It is not navigable for large vessels, but small craft of about thirty tons burthen can 
easily follow the channel and safely transport their cargoes from the chief salmon 
fishing establishment to the sea, a distance of nine or ten miles. After passing the en- 
trance to this river, it opens at once to a sheet of water more than a mile broad, and 
this width it preserves, running southeasterly, at least ten miles, continuing afterwards 
in a narrower stream to penetrate the country several miles further. On its southern 
side the land rises in an easy ascent to an elevation of from one to two hundred feet 
above the level of the sea, maintaining at that height a gently undulating surface and 
stretches away to tiie southward until it meets the Little Codroy river, a stream run 
ning nearly parallel with and distant from it about seven miles. On its northern si le 
the land has a higher range, and at a distance of about three miles from the shores 
of the river attains an elevation of five or six hundred feet. Between this ridge and. 
the Codroy another stream runs, which empties itself into the main river near the bar 
The extent of land lying between the Great and Little Cod Roy, and on the north 
side of the former, may, from the examination made, be estimated to contain an area 
equal to seventy thousand acres — the whole of that space consists of a rich loam ca- 
pable of the highest degree of cultivation and fit for the production of any dcsc 
of crop. A small quantity of wheat has been sown by a Scotch farmer on the n 
soil, and it was seen growing luxuriantly. Limestone is readily obtained, and ean, with 
but little trouble, be made to contribute to the support of tie land where it is so alum-' 
dantiy found. Timber of the most serviceable description coveis, for the most part, 
the tract here referred to — birch trees measuring from live to seven feet iri circumfer- 
ence, were found within less than a quarter of a mile of the shore, while others of a 

growth may be readily procured at a short increased distance from ii. Amongst 

the birch is mingled spruce and fir, and all ofsi::es suitable either fnr the erection of 

houses or the construction of vessels. The few settlers found here profitably employ 

some part of their time in cutting and carrying to our on the southern 

materials for the latter purpose. From information obtained at Codroy, but 

oubt exists that coal may be procured, and that without much difficulty to. 
the river. 



66' 

Lying to the northward of the valuable tract of land above referred to, is found a 
range ot hilly ground admirably adapted for grazing ; its natural production consist- 
ing of a herbage which early in the summer attains a height of between two and three 
feet. The whole of the population on and near the Codroy river does not exceed 12 
or 14 families— the majority of these emploj themselves in the prosecution of a limit- 
ed salmon and cod fishery, and only in a very partial manner turn their attention to 
th ■ cultivatien of the ground ; neither do they derive that benefit, even from its natu- 
ral productions, which they may easily do. Hence, where several of these persons 
may, with a little preparatory trouble, cut from one to two hundred tons of fodder 
they content themselves with gathering in about fifty. 

Indeed with so scanty a population as that now inhabiting the Codroy, none of its 
resources can be sufficiently developed ; hence, while under other circumstances a Avin- 
ter fishery may be profitably conducted off Port au Basque, a place within 15 miles of 
Cod Roy, by the residents at the latter place, such a branch of trade is at present not 
thought of. The few settlers before referred to complain with much feeling of the in- 
dignities they suffer at the hands of the French— their nets being, as they allege, some- 
times forcibly taken from them and carried away by the French men-of-war on the 
station. 

In closing the remarks on this river it is doing no more than justice to say, that it 
would be difficult to imagine a more beautiful or picturesque scene than the whole 
presents ; and whether with reference to the soil around it— to its fisheries— or its Geo- 
graphical position, forming as it does part of the Northern Head, and therefore com- 
manding the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence— a more desirable or importantplace 
for a settlement could scarcely be found. Codroy is about 300 miles from Halifax, 
and not more than double that distance from Quebec, and is nearly in the same lati- 
tude with the latter place. 

BAY OF ST- GEORGE- 

This Bay (the Northern Head of which is about 40 miles from Codroy) is large and 
beautiful. On either side the land rises not to a mountainous height but to an eleva- 
tion of easy access and offering no obstruction to its being appropriated to useful pur- 
poses. At its entrance it is about forty miles broad, and Flat Point, where the larg- 
est settlement has been established, is about the same distance fromitsNorthern Head. 

The land in this bay and adjacent to it is of a totally different character to that on 
the Southern and Eastern shores of the Island. In the latter the soil rests on a slaty 
formation, and in clearing ground the agriculturist encounters large quantities of 
stones, the removal of which from the surface is indispensable, and can only be ac- 
complished by much hard labour and consequent expense. In the former,no difficulty 
of this nature presents itself— there the soil is rich and deep, and when the trees and 
stumps are removed from it, no further obstacles exist to prevent the land being at once 
brought under the plough-, while the husbandman has at hand lime stone and gypsum 
sufficient for the most extensive farming operations,and in addition towhich,kelp,a most 
valuable manure, may be collected almost to any extent. To clear land near St. John's, 
and generally on the eastern shore, so as to fitit for the reception of a crop, costs from£4 
to £15 per acre — to put an equal quantity of ground in a similar state either at Codroy 
or Bay St. George, would not involve an outlay beyond 4i)s. or 50s. 

The number of persons who may be settled on the shores of this bay, and secure to 
themselves a comfortable maintenance, it would be almost impossible to estimate cor- 
rectly ; but having reference to its valuable fisheries, which, as yet, have only been par- 
tially developed — and also to the great extent of cultivable land around and near it, the 
11%F of St. George would appear capable of supporting from one to two hundred thou- 
sand persons ; the inhabitants at present occ upying it consist in the whole of about eight 
hundred people, who reside for the most part on T?] a t p om t, a place selected for settle- 
ment solely on accountof its situation with reference to the fishery, and consists of a 
few acres of a sandy point, but little above the level of the sea. 

The whole of the residents in this Bay, or with very few exceptions, occupy them- 
selves chiefly in the prosecution of the Herring Fishery, which, commencing in the lat- 
ter end of May or beginning of June, continues for a period varying from three to five 
weeks. During this season, herrings of a very large kind abound in vast quantities, 
and the number taken is in proportion to the hands employed, and not to the quan- 
tity of fish. This year about twenty thousand barrels were taken, and which perhaps 
may be considered as an average annual catch.The export of fish is chiefly to Quebec, 
bread, flour, and other articles of provisions are brought in return — the sup- 
plies from St. John's to this Bay being to a very limited amount. When the herring 
fishery terminates, the attention of the people is turned to catching salmon, in which 
they a re generally successful. No preparation is made here for the prosecution of the 
cod fisherv, but that this branch of trade may be successfully conducted is proved by 
the fact that several large boats came this year from Cape Ray, fished on the south- 
ern side of the Bay, and in a short time returned with their boats laden, having caught 
on an average eig hty quintals each boat. Near the Northern Head of this Bay a spall 



07 

Island, known as" Red Inland," is situate, and here a cod fishery, to some extent, is 
carried on by the French in small flat-hottomed boats, which are hauled up every 
night on the Island ; and in this way about eight thousand quintals of cod fish are 
taken annually. That a valuable and extensive cod fishery, therefore, may be here 
established there can be no doubt ; and which may extend from Cape Ray to Bonne 
Bay, a distance of about 120 miles. In addition to this fact, it may be mentioned that 
Bay St. George, in common with other places around our shores, participates in the 
benefit derived from the annual visitation of the caplin ; but in addition to this it has 
the great advantage of having that delicate fish the smelt within its boundaries, and 
these can be and are taken during each month in the year. During the past winter, 
when the scarcity of provisions was so generally felt in the island, the distress of the 
residents in this bay was greatly alleviated by the supply of this description of fish. 
Within a short distance of the southern shore of this bay, coal has been Jong known 
to exist, and on the northern, near Port au Port, it is almost equally certain that va- 
luable mineral may also be found — specimens having been brought from that place. 

THE BAY OF ISLANDS and RIVER HUMBER. 

The Bay of Islands (distant from the north head of the Bay St. George about 50 
miles) is spacious and easy of access — surrounded by a range of hills which stand out in 
bold outline of from 800 to 1000 feet high; and having its entrance, of nearly fifteen 
miles wide, studded with lofty Islands, this bay offers protection to vessels within it, 
and on its southern side affords a good and safe anchorage.In depth it is equal to its width. 
From its eastern side proceeds several valuable arms, but the most important,and that 
specially examined and known as the Humber River, extends from the south-east part 
of the bay about twenty-eight miles easterly into the country, maintaining throughout 
that distance a width of more than two miles, and terminating that with at a place dis- 
tinguished as the Sound, whence the Humber proceeds in a narrowed channel. 

The high lands around the Bay, on approaching the Humber, gradually lessen the 
abruptness of their character until, on the banks of that magnificent river, they do not 
rise higher than from 3 to 5 hundred feet, and present to the eye a rich clothing of all 
the varied foliage found in the colonies near us, and which reaches to the water's edge. 
The soil, throughout the extent named, is well adapted for all the purposes of cultiva- 
tion — it is deep and fertile— and possesses within its bosom the means of its own sup- 
port, as limestone, here as well as at Codroy and Bay St. George, can be readily pro- 
cured and to any extent. The hardwood found here consists chiefly of the different 
descriptions of birch — the yellow (called wych-hazel), within less than a quarter of a 
mile of the shore, was found measuring at six feet from the ground, from five to seven 
feet in circumference — and soft wood, as pine, spruce, larch, &c. are to be had with as 
little difficulty — the whole existing of a size sufficiently large for any kind of building 
and in quantities abundant enough to become an article of export. Throughout the 
whole extent of the broad part of the Humber, and which reaches, asbefore stated, from 
the Bay of Islands to the Sound, the navigatiou is free and safe to the largest class of 
vessels, and the anchorage general and good. From the Sound the Humber extends 
easterly, in a stream reduced in its width to abovrt one hundred yards, twelve miles to a 
sheet of water known as the Deer's Pond. In the narrow part of the Humber, just re- 
ferred to, there are two rapids — one situate aboutamile and a-half from the Sound, and 
the other about three miles from the Deer's Pond — the first named of these can be easi- 
ly passed at high spring tides, and the second presents no difficulty that two men with 
a boat may not readily overcome — one man to track,and another to keep the boat from 
the shore, being found sufficient to ensure a safe passage over it.The Deer's Pond, which 
has been before named, is about 15 miles long and 3 broad, and is surrounded by land 
of a most fertile description, and bearing on its surface pines measuring from three to 
four feet in diameter, with birch of scarcely inferior dimensions, and both these kinds 
existing in great_ quantities, and with such water power within reach as would seem fio 
invite the establishment of saw mills.and atthesame time to ensure success to such an 
enterprise. The rapiels before adverted to would offer but a slight impediment to the 
safe transit of rafts of lumber or baulkfrom the Pond to the Humber, and which may 
be conveyed between those places in the length of a summer's day. 

From the Deer's Pond to the Grand Lake is an estimated distance of four- 
teen miles, nearly the half of which can be passed in a boat on the stream which 
communicates between those places. The lake just referred to is the most ex- 
tensive sheet of water yet discovered in Newfoundland : in length it is repre- 
sented to be about 50 miles, and in breadth 4 or 5 ; its south-western extremi- 
ty reaching within 1G miles of the harbor of Bay St. George, and its north-west- 
ern approaching White Bay, within from 30 to 40 miles. Thus, from the Bn. 
of Islands, a communication may readily be opened which, passing through the 
Humber, Deer's Pond, and Grand Lake, would enter the Bay of St. George by 
a road of about sixteen miles in length. 



- 

Grand Lake too, it would be no difficult undertaking to pen 
through the country to the Bay of Notre Dame, on the E ; Jterjg side of 
land, or to the Bay of Exploits. The Indians now occasionally take that route, 
accomplishing the distance in three or four days. 

The settlements at present established on the Humber are very limited and 
of an unimportant character : at none of these are there more than two fami- 
lies, and the whole of the population to be found at present on the banks of 
this most important river does not exceed a hundred persons. 

The area elf good cultivable land to be found on its banks and adjacent to it, 
it would be difficult to estimate, unless a more extended examination were 
made than has yet taken place, but from the resources which this part of our 
Island possesses, in its herring, salmon, and cod fishery, coupled with the great 
extent of land, which only requires the ordinary care of the agriculturist to en- 
sure a profitable return, it may not be extravagant to say that from a hundred 
to two hundred and fifty thousand persons could be readily located there, and 
who would be placed in such circumstances and surrounded with such resources 
as would guarantee to the sober and industrious settler a comfortable mainte- 
nance. 

At none of the places mentioned in the foregoing observations is any magis- 
trate established or person exercising magisterial functions ; and although 
crimes of a flagrant character are happily of rare occurrence among them, yet 
it not unfrequently happens that the hand of the law is necessary to secure to- 
the weak the peaceable enjoyment of his property. 

At present the only opportunity which the population in the several places 
named have of protecting themselves from the aggressions of their more pow- 
erful neighbours, or of seeking redress for injuries sustained, is by applying to 
the Naval Officer in command of a man-of-war, sent round our shores annual- 
ly, for the protection of the fisheries, and to whom a commission of the peace is 
usually given. 

To persons visiting the Western Shores of Newfoundland, after having been 
acquainted with the Southern and Eastern, the difference of climate between 
those places, and the different effects produced upon the weather by the winds, 
become at once most apparent. The Southern shore is frequently enveloped in 
f o- — and the Eastern, although not subject to that visitation to an equal ex- 
tent, as the bank of fog more generally keeps at some distance from it, y it does 
an easterly wind almost always bring to the eastern shore cold and disagreabie 
weather — on the Western shore fog is rarely seen, and the climate is an amcli 
orated one. 

During the time employed in the examination of the places referred to, when 
in St. John's it was so cold in consequence of a strong easterly wind, as almost 
to check vegetation, in the Bay of St. George, where the wind blew from the 
same quarter and on the same day, the weather was that of summer, 

In concluding these remarks it may not be superfluous to observe that the 
entrance to the Gut of St. Lawrence is formed on the one side by the northern 
part of Cape Breton and St. Paul's Island adjacent thereto — and on the other, 
bv the south-western part of Newfoundland — the distance between the head- 
lands her3 referred to being, as before stated, about -56 miles. The land on both 
sides, when entering the Gulf, is distinctly seen, and rising high out of the water. 

The several places enumerated in the foregoing observatians would appear 
to be of no slight political importance, when it is borne in mind that the wnole 
are situate neai the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and one of them, as before stated, 
forms part of the Northern head at its entrance. The settlement then, of the 
Great Codroy, Bay St. George, and Bay of Islands, with the Humber, would 
appear to be desirable not only on account of the goodness of the soil and of 
the valuable fisheries connected with them, but that also, from their geograpM- 
occupancy and permanent settlement m a measure 

il importance. 



•A/ «^-v- ^ ^ «£r(U^> 





NARRATIVE 



OF 



^.J €>U 



» 



Across the 



Maud of Newfoundland. 

I 

I 



i 



BY \Y E. CORMACK. ESQ.. 



IT{E ON IV 






ONE EVER PERFORMED 



BY A EUROPEAN. 

Mr ' -^ 

I 

•th Street, 



1856. 



I.EFe '03 



